The Perfect Medicine (Claire x DoctorTrent)
by KaleidoscopeEyelids241
Summary: A love story between my favorite two Harvest Moon characters! I tried to make the characters as close to their personalities in the game as possible. I also wanted to create a bigger background for Claire, seeing as in the game she hasn't got much of a history. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

_Plit, plot, plot! _Claire rolled over in her bed and opened her eyes sheepishly. It was another rainy spring morning in Mineral Town, and when it rained early in the morning, it rained all day. Normally, on a wet day like this back in the city, it wouldn't really have affected Claire in her 9 to 5 office job. However, since she'd moved out to the untidy farm, she soon found how much the pouring rain seemed to tire out her body. "Well, a job's a job," Claire sighed as she stepped onto the hardwood floor, walking over to her kitchen to make some tasteless rice gruel.

She'd moved to Mineral Town only ten days ago, and while at first it seemed like a bit of a drag, she was slowly growing to favor it. The quiet, clean little town, the friendly townspeople, the beautiful, natural scenery; Claire loved it all so much more than the noisy and dirty city. While she did have to work much harder here, it was definitely the life she'd always dreamed of.

Getting to work, Claire adjusted her raincoat hood over her long, straight blonde hair. It seemed to be raining much harder than usual, but she saw through the blurry sheet of precipitation that a few of her crops had finally sprouted and were ready to be shipped off. Excitedly, she ran over to the plants, pulling and tugging on the different fruits and vegetables. Then, she remembered that she had some seeds that the Mayor had gifted to her for coming to the town, getting ready to plant those too. Claire got out her hoe and began to till the ground. She swung the tool over her head and into the rough ground in different patches for what felt like hours, when suddenly she realized how uneasy she felt. Working the heavy tool was starting to take a toll on her shoulders and biceps, but she figured it was just because she hadn't gotten strong enough yet. Just after that thought had passed her mind, she swung the hoe again and tottered over, falling facedown onto the soil, head throbbing intensely, not enough stamina in her body allowing her to stand up again.

"Get up," she groaned at herself, trying to catch her breath, but she felt so dizzy and exhausted.

"Claire?" A masculine voice called, but for whatever reason it sounded as if it was extremely far away. Moments later, she blacked out completely.

When Claire finally regained consciousness, she was in a white room, on top of a cot and covered in a scratchy wool blanket. She sat up and whipped her head around frantically, not used to waking up in unfamiliar places (especially in a town where she didn't know anyone). A pretty, baby-faced girl with short brown hair and a blue petticoat rushed over to her, looking pleased. "Doctor," She called out in a soft, high pitched voice. "She's awake, Doctor!"

"W-what are you…who are you… where am I?" Claire sputtered, looking down at her clothes to see she was now in a hospital gown.

"My name is Elli, and I'm the nurse here at the Mineral Town Clinic. Don't worry, the Doctor will take good care of you." The girl smiled, easing Claire back down onto the cot.

With a loud _swish_, the curtain to the side of where Claire was laying had opened, and a man emerged, wearing a mirror on his head and white medical coat. Claire widened her round blue eyes, suddenly feeling very nervous. He was an extremely handsome man: tall, lean, olive skin, wavy, jet black hair that rested on his forehead and was cut cleanly on the back of his neck, intense, dark brown almond-shaped eyes, with a chiseled square jaw and perfect angular cheekbones. He was quite young- looked to be about 26 or less. Instantly, her cheeks reddened.

The Doctor came over to the side of her bed, staring at her with those amazing eyes. "Can you tell us your full name?" He asked seriously, holding a pen and a set of notes.

"Uh… C-Claire Ryan." she stuttered as he watched her closely.

"Age?" He asked again, writing something down in his notes. His voice was deep, but still quite gentle and a bit quiet.

"Twenty-one." She mumbled. The Doctor peeked up at her quickly from his notes.

"Good," He said firmly, taking the stethoscope from around his neck and placing it on her back. "Take a few deep breaths for me." Claire did so, hoping he couldn't hear her rampantly beating heart. "You just moved here, am I right?"

Claire squeezer her eyes shut as he moved the cold metal onto her chest. "Y…yeah. About a week ago."

"Mmm," the Doctor nodded, writing down a few more things in his notes. Claire was still confused.

"Excuse me, but what happened? Why am I here? How did I even _get_ here?"

The Doctor didn't look up, just kept scribbling away. "It seems you passed out from overworking yourself in the rain. Zack found you laying in your field and brought you here a few hours ago."

"A few hours ago?! W…what time is it?" She screamed, startled. What about her animals?

"He found you at nearly five o'clock. It's now eight." He reached out and came to touch her forehead with his large, clean hands. "Hmm, still a slight fever." Claire wondered if this was from her blush, which was now worse that he was touching her. "Listen, you really shouldn't over-exert yourself when you're working, especially not in the rain. It's extremely dangerous, as you've seen today. Have you been eating three meals a day?"

"W-well sometimes," Claire sputtered. What was the matter with her? Why couldn't she stop stumbling over her words? "But lately I haven't really had the time with all of the farm work."

The Doctor frowned a little. "That's very unhealthy. The strenuous activity that farmers put themselves through require a good nutrition, full of vegetables and other important vitamins. Make sure to save some of the crops you grow and eat them for yourself too, okay?"

"Okay," Claire squeaked.

"Make sure you get enough rest too. Go to bed early and don't work too late at night. And no more working in the rain, okay?"

"Okay," she mumbled again, heart thumping wildly against her chest.

He scribbled down a few more things, then tore off a page in his notes, handing it to the nurse, who seemed a bit flustered when his fingers brushed her palm slightly. "Here's the medicine and instructions for Ms. Ryan. Could you go make a copy and grab the medicine please?"

"Medicine?!" Claire jumped up. "I can't afford any medicine! I'm sorry, but I sold everything to come live here, which cost me a fortune, and I haven't grown any crops for profit yet!"

Elli and the Doctor exchanged glances.

"We could always hold you on a credit," Elli suggested. "Just make sure to come back and pay us when you can-"

"And of course, don't get sick again." The Doctor gave an innocent smile, showing Claire his perfect set of straight white teeth. She nearly fainted.

"I'll go make copies, Doctor," Elli said, grinning softly at him and widening her eyes. He didn't look at her, just went back to scribbling in his notes.

"Thank you." He started walking back to his office. "Rest well, okay Claire?" Then, with another swish of the curtain, he disappeared out of sight.

Claire sat stunned in her cot. He was the most gorgeous man she'd ever met, and she usually never found men attractive! And he seemed way too young to even be a doctor, they were usually in their thirties or older, weren't they? She flopped onto her back, sighing heavily. He didn't really even seem to notice her too much. Tons of guys back in the city would hit on her, but she was never interested. Maybe she wasn't his type? Claire rolled her eyes, not believing how fussy she was over all of this. She didn't even know him! Why was she getting so worked up?

Elli returned, holding a plastic bag full of little glass bottles. "You'll need to take one of these pills with every meal you eat. Also, make sure that you're eating enough and get a lot of sleep." She grinned, giving Claire the bill and went to grab her overalls and plaid shirt. Her raincoat was hanging up as well. "Need help changing?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Claire muttered out the side of her mouth, examining the high hospital charge. She wasn't sure when she'd ever be able to pay this off!

She got dressed and went back to her house. It was still raining, but she didn't notice. All she could think about was the handsome Doctor all the way home.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

It had been another week on the farm in Mineral Town. Claire had been following the instructions from the Doctor, not working too hard and eating enough food each day. She hadn't seen him since that day either; she knew it was just a silly little crush and wouldn't go too far, but still thought about him every day.

"Come on, Claire," She said to herself while collecting some berries on the path near her farm. "Don't get too attached to this guy! You're here to work, aren't you? You only ever saw him once anyway!" She stopped talking when she saw Gotz, the woodcutter that lived by the path, staring at her a bit strangely as he returned from his morning hike.

One day she received a check in the mail from her parents. She remembered calling her mom the day she was in the hospital, telling her of the whole encounter. Her mom suggested that they send her a check to help recover hospital costs, and while Claire had told them not to worry about it (they'd even helped her with buying the farm), the didn't listen to her and sent the money anyway. It was much more than the hospital costs too, so Claire put most of it away and kept out a bit for herself.

With her extra money, she decided to make use of it and visit Doug's Inn, a warm restaurant/bar that many of the villagers went to. Her stomach churned when she thought of having a greasy cheeseburger, knowing she couldn't and had to eat something healthy. She sat on the edge of the bar with a cold glass of water and a plate of grilled fish and veggies. A few of the townsfolk smiled and said hello to her, but for the most part she ate alone.

"Hiya Doug, I'll have the usual." Harris, the tall and thin policeman, sat down on the barstool next to her. He exhaled heavily, looking over at Claire and tipping his hat at her. She smiled back, mouth full of food. Doug returned with a glass of foamy beer and some sausages. Claire tried hard not to be too jealous as he gulped down the frothy liquid.

"Whats new around town, Harris?" Doug asked, cleaning out some empty glasses with an old rag.

"The usual, I suppose. It's hard to be a policeman in a town that's perfect, you know. No crime anywhere!" Harris took another drink. "I love what I do though. Mineral Town is just the nicest place to settle. Don't you think so, Claire?" The two grown men looked over at her expectantly, and she nodded quickly, mouth stuffed yet again.

Doug finished cleaning glasses and leaned against the counter, his bulky arms bulging against his starch white shirt. "Ann's been a bit under the weather lately. I took her to the Clinic, and Trent said that she's just got a bit of a cold." He rubbed a thick hand in his red hair, always concerned about his daughter (who was about her age). "Such a nice young man, that Trent."

_Trent? Who's that?_ Claire thought to herself. _Is that the Doctor? _She found herself eavesdropping a bit harder, now.

"How old do you suppose he is, anyway?" Doug went back to wiping off more dishes.

"Last time I checked he was only 24. Elli told me he graduated medical school early from being so intelligent." Harris said. He gulped down the last of his drink and Doug immediately went to pour him another one.

"Bright young man, huh? I wish Ann would find herself a guy like that, but she's so head over heels with that Cliff boy."

Harris shook his head. "It wouldn't matter anyway. From what I've seen, Elli's been trying to go after him for years now. He's as dense as a brick wall, Trent is. Seems to be fully minded in his research and all of that."

"How long has he been working here?" Claire found herself asking, then felt her face go red.

Doug smiled, coming to fill up her water. "Maybe two years now? The doctor before him was quite old and ready to retire. Trent's much more educated than that old guy anyway."

She nodded, pondering over this. He was only 24? The townspeople seemed to think rather highly of him, too.

"He cares so much about our town, too. Always researching new types of medicine to help out with our elderly people and those who are quite sick. He works extremely hard, you know." Doug stroked his handlebar mustache, smirking a little. "In fact, you remind me of him, Claire. Always working hard. I respect both of you for that."

Claire gave off a bit of a grin, reaching in her pants pocket to pay her bill, then set off towards home. His name was Trent, huh? That was such a nice name for a guy. The way Doug and Harris seemed to look up to him... What if all of the people around town saw him that way, too? He was so highly respected and everything, but they also said he was dense when it came to those romantic pursuits from Elli. No matter how much she thought about him, she kept telling herself not to get too hopeful. There was no way he'd ever fall for a girl like her.

The next morning, Claire got her basket and walked on the trail behind her house. While Zack had been giving her a good amount of money for her crops and eggs, she still tried to rake in a bit of extra cash by collecting berries, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and herbs. She took in a big breath of air, the morning sun pouring over her long blonde hair. It truly was a beautiful place.

A bit closer to the lake, she noticed an article of clothing laying folded up on the grass. She walked up to it, seeing that it was the same medical coat that the Doctor had worn before! Claire picked up her head, looking around for more signs of him.

"Claire?" A familiar voice behind her called out. The was standing with his arms full of colorful herbs, wearing a clean, white button down shirt and some black dress pants. He wasn't wearing the mirror on his head anymore, his face looking even more gorgeous now that she could see it in the sunlight, "Oh that's right, you live right up that path, don't you?"

"Right…" Claire looked down at her feet. Why did she have to be wearing such grubby clothes? "W-what are you doing here, Doctor?"

"Oh," He looked down at all of the herbs in his arms. "Well, sometimes I come out here before work to collect some herbs for medicine and research. There's a lot around so I make use of them when I can." The tall, lean Doctor smiled a bit, looking at her basket full of herbs, too. His face fell harshly. "You collect these to make money, too, don't you?"

Claire knew how red her face was getting from all of this, ignoring his last comment. "You know, I pick up the herbs around here every day, but there's also a lot of things around here I can ship off, too. I don't need them as much as you do, Doctor. I could always give the ones I find to you, since I'm out here all of the time anyway." She thought quickly about the conversation between Doug and Harris. He really was hard working, wasn't he? Going around before work just to find stuff for his own medicine… what a great guy. She wanted to do whatever she could to help him. "You must be really busy, and I know how hard to balance finding all of these herbs and research and work on top of that… I could always swing by and drop them off for you, you know."

Doctor widened his eyes, looking extremely stunned. "Really? Do you mean it?" She gave a quick nod. "Wow… I mean… wow! Claire, I would feel so bad taking some of your income, you'll have to let me pay you for this."

She waved her hand shyly. "Please! I'm out here all of the time, collecting these herbs anyway. You need them more than me. I'd love to do it for you." She was avoiding his eyes, now that he looked so overjoyed. In the back of her mind, all Claire could think of was how she'd get to see him every day now!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Claire was dropping off the herbs on a daily basis, now. The first day she walked into the Clinic, she went to drop them off with Elli, but the Doctor appeared and told her to feel free to give them to him in his office any day. So, that's what she did: arrive right when the Clinic opened with a basket full of herbs from around town, handing them to him one by one before taking off. They didn't really converse much; she was extremely shy around him and saw that he was really busy all of the time, but he always gave her a kind smile and a big word of thanks, which was enough for her.

As the days went on, Claire started to notice the townspeople walking around town, staring at her a bit more suspiciously than usual. Sometimes, a few of them would say hi, like Ann, Doug the Innkeeper's friendly daughter, or Rick, a nice young guy she bought her chickens from. Most of the time, however, the women would cast a quick glance at her, eyes wide with wonderment. Before the whole herb business, Claire rarely came into town, so at first it sort of made sense that they kept staring at her like that. Now, Claire had started to grow a bit annoyed. It had been going on for over a week, now! Why did they keep looking at her that way?

As summer was coming near, Claire didn't pay much attention to her crops (they were going to wither soon, anyway). Now, she had more free time to go to the beach and grab more herbs. One of those afternoons, she was cutting through town's square to head to the sandy shore when a group of three women pulled her aside. Manna, who ran the Winery in her town, Anna, who worked as a stay-at-home mom, and Sasha, who helped run the grocery store, all said hi to her, lips curled up politely. These were the women that had been giving her the eye lately, and she wasn't too keen on talking to them much. She'd met them before, and they had always been nice, but hearing from everyone else, they were big gossipers and worried a lot about outward appearances.

"Has your farm work been going well?" Manna asked, reaching out to wipe a bit of dirt off Claire's pale cheek. The people in the town seemed to be extremely comfortable with one another.

"Yeah, it has, thank you for asking." Claire responded, looking around nervously. She really wasn't comfortable around them the way she was with the other people around her town. Although they were all a bit older and mothers, they were quite beautiful. Each had nicely done hair and makeup, as well as wore feminine dresses. It was that way back in the city, too-Claire could never really make friends with girls because she didn't enjoy wearing skirts or lipstick or anything like that. She didn't like gossip or going to get her nails done; that's why she moved out to her farm. Although guys always told her she was really pretty, she always ignored them, not really the type to have a boyfriend. Claire sighed, trying to brush off her insecurities.

"We noticed you've been running to the Clinic quite often," Sasha raised her brows curiously. "Have you been feeling well? Is it anything serious we could help you out with?"

Claire shook her head furiously, her now-braided hair whipping across her back. "No, not anything like that. It's just…" She looked down at her dirty work-boots, hoping they wouldn't talk about her behind her back when she left. "I've been helping the Doctor with collecting herbs, since there's a lot right by my house. He just seems really busy, always working so hard," Claire smiled shyly, staring off into space. "I thought the least I could do is help him out."

Manna inched forward a little, a huge smirk playing across her face. "He's a handsome guy, don't you think, Claire?"

She widened her eyes, blush crawling from the top of her head down to her toes. "Uh… hum…"

"I mean, all of the trips you take to the Clinic, day after day going out of your way and collecting all of those things for him. Seems like you've got a bit of a crush! Do you, Claire? Well, do you? Just between us girls, of course, you can always tell us anything!" Manna babbled on. All of the women were leaning in a bit more now, making Claire jump back nervously.

""I…I've got w-work back at the farm, and uh… my animals haven't been fed or…a-anyway, I gotta go. S-see you guys later." She sputtered, turning on her heel and running back to her farm. There was no way any of them denied it, now! Those pesky little gossips. Why couldn't they just leave her alone?

Summer had finally arrived. Working out on the farm was turning into a sweaty chore, so Claire liked to drop by the beach with her puppy Ringo every once and a while, stopping for a quick bite to eat at the restaurant owned by summer visitor Kai. She still collected herbs for the Doctor daily, but lately began to feel a bit strange. Whenever she dropped off the herbs, it was always the quick greeting and departure. Was she wrong for wishing they'd go further? What she have to do to get things going between them? Was there even a point in wishing that? People had been talking about the Doctor a lot lately at Doug's Inn, and they said he'd never had girlfriends, or had never even shown any signs of wanting one. Maybe work was his top and only priority?

She awoke one morning quite a bit earlier than normal. The weather outside was cool, so Claire decided to take a walk to the beach to pick up some extra herbs before getting to work on the farm. That way, she'd get to feel the nice cool breeze from the sea on her skin, not something that normally happened because she was always wearing her overalls and plaid shirt. Quickly, she dressed in a tight white tank top and some shorts (cut off from some old jeans) and departed, bringing along her puppy on a leash. Thoughts about the Doctor began to fill her mind again. It always made her day when he gave her that smile, blinking his long, dark eyelashes at her. "Thank you, Claire!" He'd exclaim in that gentle voice of his. Claire closed her eyes, beaming silently. It didn't matter how many times she tirelessly searched for herbs, his wonderful reaction was always worth it.

_Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk_. Someone's running footsteps had made sound, seeming to come towards her. Confused, Claire began to open her eyes, but it was too late. The person crashed into her at full speed, forcing both of them onto the ground.

"Owwww!" With the wind knocked out of her, Claire tried to pull herself back into focus. At first, all she could hear was Ringo barking defensively at the top of his little lungs. Then, she moaned and blinked her eyes, trying to make the vision in front of her less blurry.

_Oh my God. _

Claire felt herself rouge and her bright aqua eyes grow even larger. Doctor was on top of her, his expression held frantic. "Are you okay?!" He yelled, panting heavily. He leapt back up onto his feet, taking her by the shoulders and pulling her back up to standing position. Still a bit dizzy, she swayed for a moment, trying to catch her breath. Without realizing it, she placed her slender hand against his ripped chest, then snatched it away, screaming on the inside when she realized just how fit he was.

She looked him up and down once she was finally back to normal. He was wearing a plain blue t-shirt (that was tight enough that she could see every sculpted abdominal on his body) and some jogging shorts, as well as a pair of worn tennis shoes. He was sweaty and breathing heavily, probably out for a jog in the morning, and his black hair was matted to his forehead in a totally adorable way. That's when she realized she had never seen him in normal clothes before! Claire swallowed the lump in her throat and told herself to stop staring at him, pulling up her fallen tank-top strap.

"Please tell me if you're alright," the handsome man worried, his eyebrows pulled inward. He reached forward to grab her shoulder, worried she might fall over. "I'm so, so sorry, Claire. My office isn't that far away, I can bring you back and examine you-"

"I'm f-fine," she stuttered honestly, "Seriously. You just startled me. But I'm okay. Promise."

The Doctor put one hand on his hip and wiped his forehead with the other, sighing with relief. "I'm so sorry. Nobody ever wakes up this early, so my route is usually around the town since I know I won't run in to anyone." With a sharp exhale, he shook his head. "I guess I was wrong. I have to be more careful. I'm glad you're okay, though." His breathing had finally returned to normal. "Well what are you doing out this early?"

Claire searched her mind quickly. If she told him she was going to find him some herbs, he'd probably tell her that she didn't need to work so hard for him. Plus, she didn't want to seem so desperate! "I was just going to watch the sunrise with Ringo." Claire cocked her head towards her puppy, who was still snarling at the Doctor.

He beamed widely, coming down to let Ringo smell his hand. The tiny dog came forward to sniff his long fingers, then warmed up to him, allowing the Doctor to pat his head. "What a great idea! People who truly appreciate the beauty of nature are wonderful. It's so hard to find that nowadays." He offered a gorgeous smirk. "I really respect people like that."

She could hear her heart thump hard against her ribcage. _Did he just say that he liked her?_ By the look on his face, it definitely seemed like he didn't mean it that way. "W-well what are you doing, Doctor?" Claire could have smacked herself. It was so obvious what he was doing!

"I'm just out for a jog," He said, stretching out his hamstring a little. "I jog a few miles every morning to keep healthy. Because I'm not a farmer, I don't get the kind of exercise that you do. We don't have a gym around here, so I have to make do."

Claire nodded, taking another peek at his sweaty chest, wondering if he'd eaten. "Why don't you stop by my house for a glass of water?" She asked, then caught herself. She just asked him over to her house! She hadn't invited anyone to her place before! And she definitely had never invited any super hot guys over!

The Doctor looked a bit bewildered. "Ah! I don't want to make you miss the sunrise!"

She dismissed this by waving her hand. "The sun rises every morning-I can see it anytime."

He smiled, nodding sharply then. "Well, since you're so kind to offer, then okay!"

They walked back to her ranch in silence. The Doctor kept his hands on his hips, silently observing her large (and finally tidied) farm. She opened the door and allowed him inside, not helping but feeling embarrassed by how little her house was. Quietly, Claire showed him to the kitchen an pulled out a chair for him, hurrying to pour him a glass of cold water.

He thanked her, taking a long sip and observing her silently. Claire bit her lip, realizing that she was only in her shorts and tank top (which was certainly risky in comparison to what all of the other girls around town wore). Embarrassed, she went to throw on an apron and started to cook him some eggs for breakfast. "How do you like your eggs, Doctor?"

The young man shot up from his chair with a worried expression. "Oh no, don't worry about that! Please, you've done enough."

"It's fine," Claire couldn't help but suppress her shy grin. "You're my guest, and anyway, nobody's ever tasted the food from my farm."

The Doctor sat back down, looking a bit pleased with her actions as he watched her cook him scrambled eggs with a side of some tomatoes. She placed the plate in front of him and waited nervously for him to take the first bite.

"Mmmm." He closed his eyes peacefully. "This is delicious, Claire, thank you. Obviously extremely healthy since it's all farm-raised too." He took another bite.

Claire couldn't contain her excitement. "Oh, thank you Doctor! That's so great that you like it!"

Pausing in-between bites, he looked up at her. "My name's Trent, Claire, I thought you knew that? Feel free to call me by my first name. I think we know each other well enough for that."

Her heart pounded hard into her chest once more. "Trent," she tried out, just to hear how it sounded. To that, Trent smiled and took another sip of his water.

Once he was all finished, Claire hopped up to clean up his dishes and he followed her, wanting to be of some assistance. "It was wonderful, really. You'll have to cook again for me, sometime, or maybe let me buy off some of the food from your farm."

_I'd love to! _She squealed in her thoughts, but just scrubbed his plate harder in response. "Of course," she mumbled.

Trent took the plate from her, wiping it off with a spare dry towel. "You know, I never really tell you how much I appreciate everything you do for me. Nobody's really helped me out that much…" His wiping slowed down a bit and he stared off into space. "I'm usually the one that helps people out, I guess, so it's nice to have a change of pace." Trent caught her staring, shaking his head. "Not that I don't like it! I love my job, I truly do!"

With his face pink, he glanced at the clock. "It looks like I'm a bit late to work." He didn't seem to be too worried, expression held calm. "I hope Elli holds down the fort for me at the Clinic."

Claire turned around to look at the time then, too. It was 8:30! "Oh, no! I'm so far behind on all of my farm work and going to collect your herbs!" She caught herself yet again, sinking lower and lower. _How could you be so stupid?! _Claire screamed at herself in her mind.

Trent examined her with his intense eyes, thin red lips parting. "Wow, Claire, I didn't know it was that big of priority to you…"

"I-it's not!" Claire stammered. "It really isn't-like I said, the herbs are close to my house, and-"

"Someday I'll make it up to you, okay?" Trent beamed widely, wiping off his hands. He glanced at the clock once more. "I'm really far behind on work, so I have to get going. Anyway, thanks for the meal, I really appreciate it."

"No problem," Claire replied, hugging herself as she watched him leave. When she was sure he was out of her farm, she threw herself onto the couch, screaming into her pillows. Finally! Finally things had gone farther between them! Maybe it wasn't so bad of her to want this after all!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Summer had been passing by slowly. Claire still went over to Trent's to drop off herbs, and sometimes he'd ask her a little about her farm, and even more rarely she'd drop off some eggs or vegetables for him too. Working was growing incredibly tiring, too, so when she finished everything late in the evening, she always went to Doug's Inn for a good meal. There, she started talking a lot more to Ann and her boyfriend, Cliff (who was actually super quiet). In fact, she was starting to get on really well with all of the townspeople now that she hung around them a lot more.

Finally, it was drawing nearer to fall, making the farm work a lot more bearable with the cooler weather. On a calm-winded afternoon, Claire was surprised at how early she'd finished with her crops, so hopped in the shower and went off to look for any extra herbs to bring to Trent. Arriving at the Clinic, Elli cast her the same awkward look she always did: her lips sucked in and round brown eyes staring wide and curiously. The nurse could obviously tell that Claire had feelings for Trent, which didn't seem to strike well with her. Claire had always wondered if anything had ever went on between the two that caused Trent to not like her… would she make the same mistake?

The Doctor wasn't in his office (probably with a patient), so Claire took a seat in front of his desk and perched the herb filled basket on top of her knobby knees. Looking around his tidy office, there wasn't any pictures of his family like most personal spaces she'd been in before. Just books and papers and medicine. She started wondering about his personal life-in fact, he'd never really mentioned anything about his family or friends or anything, ever. It wasn't like they'd met outside of the Clinic that much, but still, Trent at least knew a bit of her background due to the other townspeople. All she really knew about him was his educational history.

Swoosh! "Oh, hello," Trent said from behind her, talking absent-mindedly as he scribbled down something in his notes. "Come with the usual today, huh?"

Claire smiled, extending out her arms to give him his herbs. He looked up, seeming a little distracted in his mind. She could feel her expression changing. "What's up?"

A frown had deepened on his face. He took the basket and emptied it on his desk, using a pair of rubber plastic gloves to sort through them. "It's…" the Doctor released a heavy sigh. "It's nothing. I guess sometimes I get a bit frustrated, that's all."

She stared at him, not really knowing what to say. Frustrated about what?

He seemed to have read her mind. "We learn as doctors that we can't cure everyone. We do all we _can_ do, but nature has a mind of its own. Maybe it's because I'm not experienced enough or something…but whenever I work with a patient and I can't do absolutely everything to end their pain… I always feel like it's my fault. You can only be so smart."

"I think you're brilliant!" Claire leaned in, feeling so bad about his discouragement. "I mean, you work so hard! You're always researching things and looking for new medicines! And you even graduated from medical school so many years in advance! You're right, nature does have a mind of it's own, and you can't fix everyone. But from what I've seen, you're one of the most amazing doctors all around. You should really be proud of yourself. If you can't cure everyone, know that's not because of you…because you're spectacular." She held her breath, realizing that all of her mushy thoughts had been poured out in front of him.

Trent gawked at her for a moment, dumbfounded. "Really? Do you really think so?"

Claire sank back into her chair, giving a quick nod.

"That's so nice of you…" He rolled up his sleeves, leaning into his palm and staring out into space. "Maybe you're right. I'll take what I've learned and will just have to work even harder!"

She cocked her head a little. Did she say that?

He bared a toothy grin, staring deep into her eyes kindly. "Thank you, Claire. Nobody's ever listened to me about my worries. It means a lot, you know."

"Doctor! Jeff is here to see you!" Elli called from the front desk.

Claire nodded, still feeling shy about her outburst, and excused herself. She walked outside and started heading to Doug's Inn, the cool air feeling nice on her warm cheeks. Sometimes she felt bad for the poor guy; he seemed so misunderstood in this little town. Yeah, everyone looked up to him, but he wasn't Superman either. He had moments of sorrow just like everyone else…

"Hiya, Claire!" Ann cried as soon as she saw her blonde friend enter the inn. "You're looking good! Working hard around the farm?"

Claire snickered, grabbing a wooden chair at the table where she, Cliff, and Kai sat. "Ann, you saw me this morning at the springs."

"Doesn't mean I'm not curious!" Ann said in her rather loud manner. She got up to go pour Claire a mug of beer. "What've you been doing since I last saw you?"

Claire explained to them most of her day: from work, to grabbing herbs, to her visit with Trent. The dark-skinned and charming Kai pursed his lips a little, knitting his brow.

"You sure do see the Doctor a lot, don't you?"

Claire shrugged. People were growing accustomed to asking her that, so she usually just ignored it. Always the same petty gossip anyway.

"I'm serious! I'm surprised that he actually enjoys seeing you so much. He kinda strikes me as a bit of a stiff." Kai explained, waiving his mug around before taking a sip.

For whatever reason, this made her feel a bit defensive. "He is _not_ a stiff. He's just really serious about his work. Nobody really gets him, so he doesn't open up to people."

They all looked shocked, so she turned in her seat and chugged down her glass. Why did she keep embarrassing herself like this?

"He _is_ kind of standoffish, from what we've seen. Gosh, Elli's been going after him for who knows how long, and he's barely even glanced in her direction. Plus, he only comes to festivals when he hears someone sick is going, so he can watch over them. The Doctor never really talks to anyone about normal things." Ann had lowered her voice a bit.

"That's right," whispered Cliff.

"Well, maybe if you tried to get to know him, you'd feel different." Claire was almost all the way turned around, trying to hide her red complexion.

Kai laughed a little. "That's what we've been trying to say! We've all tried hard to know him, even the girl who works with him 24/7, and none of us have made the impact that you have!"

With that, Claire stood up, glaring at them with her furious blush. She couldn't really think of anything to say, but was still astonished. Did Trent really think of her as more than the other townspeople? She shook her head, trying not to get her hopes up, and quickly hurried towards the door.

"Aw, Claire, come on! We weren't being mean or anything!" Ann called, but Claire was already stomping back to her farm.

The next morning, Claire woke up early. The last time she'd woken up before normal was the time she had accidentally run into Trent, but she didn't really want to go out and look for herbs (no matter what the chances were of running into him outside of the Clinic). Instead, she got up to make herself something scrumptious for dinner. She slipped arose the hardwood floor in her socks, only wearing a big shirt that belonged to her dad. Ringo barked for her affectionately, so she bent down to pick him up and give him a few kisses.

"What should we have for brekky today, Ringo?" She asked, rubbing her nose on his.

Suddenly, there was a few sharp knocks on the door. Knocking? This early in the morning? Did something happen? Maybe her parents telephoned, or maybe one of her animals had run out from the farm…

Not thinking about her appearance, she swung the door open. Trent stared back at her, wearing his white button down and black pants. It was Wednesday, his day off, so he didn't have his medical coat or mirror or anything. In his hand, he had a picnic basket that was bustling with food, and in the other, a soft wool blanket. What was he doing there?

"Good morning!" He greeted, rather chipper. Running his eyes over her body, his bright smile fell to something of shock, so she looked down. _Shit!_ She was only wearing her dad's dress-like t-shirt, and no bra or anything! Quickly, Claire folded her arms over her chest and moved a few paces to the left, being a bit more concealed.

"S-sorry, I guess I didn't realize you'd still be-" He began apologizing, but she interrupted him.

"Just never mind… is there something I can help you with?"

Trent wiped the look off his face and went back to the joyful one he had before. "I kept thinking about that time when you gave me breakfast here, on that morning we had run into each other and I made you miss the sunrise. Well, to make up for that, I made a little breakfast for us. I thought maybe we could go to watch the sunrise together, too."

Claire's heart did a little dance behind her ribs. Was this really happening? It was all way too good to be true! She couldn't manage any words, so just stared at him shyly.

"I told you I was going to pay you back, didn't I?"

She nodded, not able to stop looking at him. "Uh, let me just get changed and we can go, okay? Have a seat, if you'd like."

The young Doctor shook his head, leaning against the doorway and turning to look at her farm. The sky was a lovely misty-blue shade, and a little fog was spreading across her field. "That's okay. I'd like to enjoy the scenery while I can."

Claire had to pinch herself just to pull away from the situation. Running to her room, she threw on her flannel shirt and overalls. Then she walked back to the doctor, closing the door behind her.

"Okay, let's go!" Trent threw the blanket over his broad shoulder and began cutting across her farm, towards the trail.

"Um, where are we going? Don't you want to go to the beach?" Claire asked quietly, tottering behind him.

He shook his head, Claire noticing for the first time how tall he was (she was 5'6, and he was towering over her! He had to have been 6'2 or more!). "Nope. I'm taking us to the best viewing spot in all of the town. The best viewing spot in all of the world, in my opinion!" He chuckled, picking up the pace a bit. Claire huffed a bit, trying to keep up with his long-legged strides.

They hiked up the trail all of the way, which eventually led up Mother's hill. When they reached the peak, Claire was keeling over with her hands on her knees, breathing deeply. She didn't really even get the notion to look around until Trent said something.

"Isn't it just beautiful?" He gawped, setting down the basket and blanket and holding his head high. "Just look at it!"

She came to stand next to him, and surely enough, it was gorgeous. The hill overlooked miles and miles of green forest, and at the horizon there was a perfect view of the cloudless sky. The sun had just started to peek up, creating the most stunning visions of pink, red, orang, blue, and violet. Claire was breathless, and not from trying to keep up with him, either. "Why haven't I ever been up here?"

"Not a lot of people take the time to make it all the way up to the peak. Which is understandable. A lot of the folks in Mineral Town are always really busy. But sometimes, they'll make it up for the Moon Viewing Festival."

Claire turned around to see he had already set up everything and was sitting down. There was tons of food-eggs, baked potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, eggs, muffins, bread, mixed fruit, sausages, and little pitchers of milk, water and juice. Claire couldn't suppress her geeky grinning. This was all just like a dream!

They started eating, and Trent asked her a few questions about what she did before she came to Mineral Town, which she was sure he already knew the answer, but told him anyway. Still, he seemed interested, asking her about her old job and school and whatnot. Wondering about his past life, she went ahead and asked him the same question he asked her.

"So, what was it like before _you_ moved here?"

Trent thought about this, chewing on a cut of watermelon. "Hmm. I guess I studied a lot. There really wasn't much time for anything else." He cleared his throat. "Both my parents were doctors, too, actually."

"Really?" Claire raised her flaxen eyebrows. No wonder he was so smart!

"Yes. They were extraordinarily brilliant. Always at their offices, working hard and studying. In fact," he let out a deep breath, watching calmly as the sun started rising. "They never really spent much time with me. I had a nanny, who looked after me most of the time. She was a wonderful caretaker, but I still longed for the affection from my parents. I pushed myself so hard in school to become a great doctor, entering university early. I thought that pursuing the occupation that both of them had would make it easier for us to talk about things. I guess not," Trent reached forward, taking a sip of water. "Even after I graduated at the top of my class in medical school, they were still too busy to even attend the ceremony… Sometimes I wonder if the way they treated me caused me to be like this. I can't really connect to people in a normal way. I'm a bit awkward in social conversation with those I don't know well… the only thing I'm good at is talking about medical agenda." He stopped for a moment, clenching his jaw, then turning to her as to rebut his earlier statements. "Not that I didn't respect my parents! They were truly magnificent doctors, everyone praised them for what they did!"

Claire sat, shocked. She had no idea that he had so many insecurities like that! Slowly, she turned to look at him. His face was tilted towards the sky, which was still slowly being lit up by the sun. He looked so peaceful with his hair loose and jaw relaxed; it was as if there was no worry in the world with that expression, when in reality there was a ton of things coursing his mind. The way he could just push it all away and go on with his life… it inspired Claire. She could never be so selfless.

That was the exact moment she knew it; she was falling for him.

"I don't think that you're like that all, Trent," she said after a while. He turned back to face her, eyes still somber. "You care so much for the people of this town, everyone knows that. They're always saying how much they love you because of all that you do. And you're so tirelessly focused on how to help them, that and nothing else. You don't connect to them normally because you connect to them in a totally higher level… I love that about you." Claire knew she said it, and she wanted to. She didn't even care to take it back, waiting with her breath held for his response.

Trent shook his head, biting his lip a little. "I don't know. Maybe you're right." He looked back up at her, straight into her eyes. It didn't seem like he had regarded the "love" comment that much. "You know what, Claire? I've always been a bit jealous of you. You can talk to the people of this town so freely… you open up to any one of them with ease, even when you don't know them at all. I'd really like to be more like you, I think." He let out a heavy exhale, smiling. "Thank you for listening to me. I've never talked to anyone about these things before."

She was staring at him in that stupid lovestruck way again. "You can always talk to me, Trent."

He kept grinning silently to himself, looking back into the sky. When the sun was all of the way up, they decided to pack up so Claire could return to her farm. As he was walking her home, he expressed his wishes to continue meeting up with her every Wednesday to watch the sunrise. She agreed immediately.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

The Wednesday sunrise and breakfast had become routine with Claire and Trent. Every time was different and memorable, and every time she'd fall more and more in love with him. Sometimes he'd make them the food, and sometimes she would. Sometimes they'd talk for a full hour about her family, and other times he'd talk about some amazing new discoveries in science. Sometimes the view would be absolutely clear, and other times, there would be tons of clouds in the sky. The more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to see him. Claire still went every day to give him herbs (which now had much more conversation since they knew each other better), but the days she loved the most was when they got together on their special days set aside from the rest of the week. It made all of the difficult farming worthwhile, being with him and watching those sunrises together. She'd even started writing her mother about him, who had responded that Claire had better hold on to him with all her might. That was exactly what she had intended on doing, too.

It was Fall now in Mineral Town, Claire's favorite season of all. The trees were such beautiful shades of red, orange, and brown. The crunch beneath her feet from the fallen leaves always made her beam with a light happiness, as did the lovely smell of the crisp, autumn air. Back in the city, she'd never had such an experience with the nature like this! Also, because it was definitely getting colder, a lot of the townspeople went to Doug's Inn for some central heating and warm food. Since Kai was no longer in town, Claire mostly hung out with Ann and Cliff on her nights there. Almost two weeks into fall, however, Kai's girlfriend Popuri had stopped by to eat dinner with them.

"I wish Kai could be here for the Full Moon Festival," The pink-haired beauty pouted. "It's always so romantic! Now, I've just got to stay home and talk to him on the phone..."

"Aww, you poor thing," Ann near-shouted. "Cliff and I were going to go, too, but they have a lot of business at the winery that night, so he's stuck at work." The fiery redhead looked at Cliff, who was blushing in embarrassment.

"Right." He mumbled softly.

"What's that?" Claire asked, not even glancing up in their direction as she cut through her dinner. They had so many different festivals it was hard to keep track.

Ann and Popuri stared at her in awe. "You don't know the Full Moon Festival?" Ann yelled. Claire winced, raising her eyebrows.

"It's only one of the most romantic nights of the year! It's where you and your significant other go watch the full moon of the fall season! Usually, you stay out there all night, get dressed up, eat dinner, and drink wine with him. The moon is always so beautiful, too!"

Significant other? Claire thought about Trent. Did she even have the right to call him that? What did he even think of her anyway?

"Do two friends ever go together?" Claire asked, her voice seeming to shrink.

Ann snorted, patting Cliff hard on the shoulder. "Of course not! Two people only go together if they're romantically involved. That's the whole point!" A wide sneer appeared on her lips. "Why? You thinking of asking someone?"

Thoughts of the Doctor disappeared and she broke out into a sweat. "O-of course n-not! I-I don't have a-anyone like t-that around here! N-nobody would ask me a-anyway!" Claire wanted to leave, but she hadn't paid for her meal, and besides, she knew better than to storm out of there now.

"Hmmm," Popuri curled her lips in excitement. "Sounds like you want to be asked, though."

"Don't be ridiculous." Claire reached for a napkin and wiped off her mouth, hoping it would hide her pink cheeks.

However, the days were starting to grow closer to the Full Moon Festival, and Claire was growing equally anxious. She still dropped off the herbs every day, but Trent never mentioned anything! That is, until the day of their sunrise breakfast.

It was when they were all packed up and walking back to her house. Trent called her name carefully, and she turned to look at him, she saw that his face was looking a bit rosy.

"What?"

"I'm not sure if you know this, but we have sort of a traditional holiday at Mineral Town, so to speak," He said sternly, avoiding her eyes. "It's called the Full Moon Festival, when we get out to look at the full moon from any point in the city. Usually, dinner accompanies this, and people get dressed up in nice clothes. It's actually tomorrow night, now that I think of it."

Claire's heart was pumping blood so quickly, she had to stop walking to process all of this and calm herself down. Was he asking her to the Full Moon Festival? The festival that was reserved for the romantically involved? Trent turned around and stopped too, bringing his eyebrows in a little. Why did he always look so damn calm all of the time? She started walking again, flustered. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

"Right. Well, I was just thinking, I've never been to the Full Moon Festival with anyone before, and since you and I do go to see the sunrise all of the time, maybe it would be nice to watch the full moon for once." Trent glanced over at her, biting his lips with his eyes hopeful.

She had to stop again, placing her hand on the side of her fence surrounding her yard. He just asked her! What did this all mean? Maybe… since he wasn't a true resident of the town, he thought that two friends could go too? But maybe not! Maybe he did like her too!

Trent stood a few paces in front of her, waiting for her to speak.

"Of course! I'd love to go with you!" She tried smiling cutely at him, but it came out sort of twitchy.

He cleared his throat and held his head high. "Well, good, " he said seriously. "Why don't I meet you up at the peak of Mother's Hill at about eight tomorrow? I'll get all of the food and everything, too."

"Alright."

Trent nodded once, then spun around to go walk back to the Clinic. She could barely contain her excitement! No way! She was going with him to the Full Moon Festival! _No way! _

Needing to get it off her chest, Claire ran all of the way to Doug's Inn. It wasn't open yet (still in the morning), but Ann was outside anyway, watering some flowers.

"Claire! What's u-"

"I GOT ASKED TO THE FULL MOON FESTIVAL!" Claire yelled giddily, throwing her arms around her friend. "ME! IMAGINE THAT!"

Ann widened her eyes, holding a wiggly Claire out in front of her. "No way! By who?!"

Claire shook her head, grinning hugely with her mouth closed. She didn't want to tell Ann about Trent, because if she did everyone was sure to find out. Not that Ann seemed to mind.

"That's so awesome, Claire!" Ann brought her back in for another hug. "You're gonna have to get a dress and do your makeup and everything, you know?"

She stopped jumping around, suddenly feeling disappointed. "B…but I don't have any dresses… and I don't know how to wear makeup…"

Ann blinked at her for a while. Hastily, she set down her watering can and grabbed Claire's thin arm, dragging her down the road. They walked like this until they were at the huge chicken coop in town, which was Lilia, Rick, and Popuri's house.

Luckily enough, Popuri answered the door from Ann's harsh knocking. "Hello, you two! How a-"

Ann grabbed her arm too, pulling them both up to Popuri's girly room. The redhead delayed all of the information to their pretty friend.

"Wow, Claire! Good for you!" Popuri squealed, patting Claire's bony shoulder. "Do you know what you'll wear?"

"That's the problem…" the blonde sighed, hanging her head. "I don't have any dresses and don't know how to wear makeup or do my hair or stuff like that." She felt weird. It was the only time that she had ever wanted to do any of those things!

Popuri held up her hand, as if to say "say no more!" She disappeared for a second, then returned with a pile of dresses in different colors, a huge box full of makeup, and a heaping of hair tools. "Let's get to work!"

First, they had Claire try on all of Popuri's dresses (they were the same size, although Claire was a tiny bit thinner). It was a bit difficult, since all Popuri really had was a bunch of girly things. Eventually, Claire decided on a sleek, velvet blue slip dress with a few pretty sparkles on it (Popuri said that Lilia bought it, but she'd never worn it). Next, Popuri showed Claire how to do a lot of different makeup techniques, but all of them made her look like a clown, so they just decided to keep it light. The easiest part of all of this was when Popuri showed Claire how to curl her hair, which ended up looking rather pretty.

At the end of it all, her two friends stared at Claire in awe, wondering how in the heck they'd gotten her to look so beautiful. Claire was surprised, too, and even liked it a little.

"I hope you'll call me if you have any trouble." Popuri picked off a strand of hair from Claire's new dress. "And make sure you don't burn yourself on that iron!"

The three of them parted ways, then. When Claire got home, even Ringo didn't recognize her at first. She went on with her farm work as normal (after she changed into her work clothes, of course), but her mind was occupied the entire time. Going to sleep was the hardest, but eventually she let her fatigue take her into a lovely dream.

Waking up, Claire shot up from her bed, face filled with a goofy smile. Today was the day! As fast as she could, she ran to her horse's stable, gave her stallion Lennon a good brushing, took care of all of her chickens, milked her cows, and watered her crops. The rest of the day she spent cleaning her house (she was incredibly antsy), and finally, when it was only two hours away from meeting Trent, started to get ready.

Curling her hair wasn't quite as easy as she remembered, but after half an hour, her blonde hair was fixed in long, loose ringlets that hung nicely on her back. Her makeup was simple-Popuri showed her how to do it tastefully. With just a little swipe of mascara on each lash, a soft brushing of blush on her cheeks, and a light amount of a quiet coral lipstick, she ended up looking like she normally did, but with a bit of a kick. Throwing on her dress, which seemed to melt onto her body, Claire looked timidly at herself in the mirror's reflection. It wasn't normal for herself to look like this. She knew that she looked pretty, but she was stunned at how grown-up and, well, different she seemed. It wasn't like she was unrecognizable, but she sort-of was. Maybe it was just because she was in love now-whatever it was, she could never go back to that sheepish, hazy-eyed girl from the city she once was.

Before she left, she ran a quick phone call to her mother, then grabbed a light jacket before heading up the hill. To her luck, she was used to climbing it every week, so she wasn't as sweaty as the first time she'd been up there.

When she saw him, his lean body turned towards the navy-blue sky, she felt her knees go weak. Trent was dressed in dark blue pants and a gray shirt, a light blue tie falling across his muscled abs. His hair was relaxed, as always, and he was dressed formally, as always, but for some reason she looked at him so differently now… similar to the way she looked at herself.

Behind him was their dinner. It was nothing like their normal picnic, and nothing short of romantic: a small, circular table with a red tablecloth, two wooden chairs positioned across from each other, a lit candle, two wine glasses, and two plates with silverware. The food was all in a basket, right beside the table. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine them holding hands and staring lovingly at each other.

"Ha!" she snorted aloud. While maybe Trent could stay that serious, there was no way she could do that without cracking up!

When Claire realized what she'd done, it was too late. Trent had spun around quickly, startled that she was there already. He looked confused for a minute. _Well, of course he's like that! It looks like I just laughed at his hard work! _Claire thought to herself. _How stupid could you be?_

"I'm sorry! I'm not laughing, I was just thinking about something-" she stopped talking mid-sentence when he walked over to her in his gorgeous way, eyes sparkling. He gazed at her in amazement, her laugh seeming to not bother him at all now that he saw what she looked like. Claire held her breath. _Does he think I look pretty?_

Trent looked back into her eyes, seeming dumbfounded. "Hello."

She reddened. Why did she wear blush in the first place? "Hi."

He coughed, glancing at the sky, then back to her, then the dinner table, then her again. "Are you hungry?"

Trying to ease the tension, she let out a snort and smacked him playfully on the shoulder. "When am I not?" She could barely pick her head up again. _Oh, yeah. Great going, Claire. Way to ruin your ladylike image. _When she'd regained her pride, she saw that he was smirking a little, making her feel a lot better.

They talked to the table and Trent began dishing food onto her plate. He'd prepared some salmon and vegetables, along with a flour-less cake for dessert ("It's very healthy,").

"Would you care for some wine?" He twisted his lips, then. "Oh, that's right, I wasn't sure if you drank alcohol or not. If that's the case, I have water, too-"

"Nope, I drink all of the time!" Claire exclaimed. That was exactly what she needed to loosen up from all of this!

Trent stared at her, on the verge of saying something about drinking too much being unhealthy, but Claire rushed to change the subject on another matter so they could start eating. Every bite she took resulted in a satisfied moan, thus making him ogle her even more strangely.

"I'm sorry, it just tastes so amazing…" Claire sighed heartily, taking a sip of the dark wine and going back to eat. "How did you learn to cook like this, anyway?"

He had almost forgotten to eat, due to watching her for so long. Picking up his fork and knife, he started cutting thin slices into the already tender fish. "I signed up for many cooking and nutrition classes in university when I was younger. I figured that I'd be living alone after I graduated, so I needed to learn how to take care of myself, too." Claire's first glass of wine was already empty, so he took to the liberty of filling it back up. "You're a great cook too, Claire. Did you take classes as well?"

"Nope, my mother taught me. She was a stay at home mom, see," Claire grinned softly, thinking of her beautiful mom. "So she was the best chef all around. Always making me breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even after I graduated high school, she'd bring me things to eat. That was how we bonded when I was really young-we'd bake and cook everything together so my dad would have a big, delicious meal when he got home from work! My dad is a fireman, and he'd always get so hungry on the job." Claire had to shove another piece of food in her mouth to keep herself from babbling on. She never realized how much she missed her parents until now…

"You must really look up to them," Trent tilted his head a little, his eyes gleaming in the candlelight. "They seem like great parents."

"Oh they are! I was their only child, so we spent a lot of time together. Sometimes, my dad would let me come to his work and help him wash the firetrucks!" She giggled at the memory. "And on his days off, we'd have family game night, playing for hours! You know, I think maybe they loved me a little too much. I could barely be without them for a week without crying after I'd moved out!"

Trent's looked a bit forlorn, but he still smiled. Claire totally forgot in her moment of memory that he had a difficult relationship with his parents. _Loved me too much?_ What was she saying? How could she even _think_ of saying that in front of him? Just as she started to open her mouth and apologize, he spoke.

"They did an amazing job raising you. I'd love to meet them." He looked away, sipping down the rest of his wine and pouring himself more.

Her heart rate was increasing yet again, surprised he'd said that with no worry at all. They did an amazing job raising her? What did that even mean? Did Trent like the way she turned out? And what was it that he liked exactly? That she was nice to him? That she gave him herbs all of the time? Or maybe he just thought his parents didn't do a good job raising him… Oh, how she'd hate it if he thought that! He turned out wonderful even with his neglectful parents! If only she had the bravery to tell him that…

"I'm sure they'd love to meet you, too," Claire mumbled. Thinking of the situation was rather comical; she could just imagine her bulky dad coming to shake Trent's hand (who was much bigger than the trim Doctor), and her mom, shoving a freshly baked pie under his nose before wrapping him in a thin-armed hug. Her parents would ask him a ton of questions about his profession, and then about Mineral Town, before finally asking him what it was exactly he was trying to do with their daughter.

What were his parents like? Would they even like her because she wasn't super intelligent like all of them?

"I'd like to meet your mom and dad someday," she said slowly, being honest. In fact, she wanted to meet all of his family, no matter how they had raised Trent. They were his family, and for some reason, that seemed important.

Trent kept his angular face pointed at the sky, which now had a big bright moon shining down at them. "Oh. Well, maybe." The rest of his wine went through his lips. "I don't believe they'd be quite as enjoyable as yours."

"I'm sure they'd be! Even if, you know, you weren't around them all of the time, you still really respected both of them, didn't you?"

He smiled in a bashful way. "I guess you're right. Well, then. Someday it is."

They'd finished eating, so he pulled out their picnic blanket and lay it down in front of the table. He motioned to her to have a seat, so she did, and he started cleaning up their plates.

"Oh, come on! Sit down next to me, you can worry about that later!" Claire giggled, feeling a slight bit buzzed. While he looked astonished at this, Trent decided to listen to her and took a seat beside her. The two were so close they were touching, causing Claire to grow even warmer and even happier.

The full moon was shining down on them in a spectacular, glowing white orb. Tons of little stars had sprinkled around it, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Claire stared breathlessly at the scene, wanting to keep it in her mind for as long as she lived. "It's so beautiful, isn't it?" She let out a sigh.

"Yeah, it is." Trent replied, but instead of looking at the moon, he was looking at her. Claire didn't notice.

They watched the moon, talking about each other's lives and drinking down the rest of the first bottle of wine. When it was gone, Trent went to grab the next one, pouring her a glass carefully (probably not the best idea on his behalf). The night went on slowly, much to Claire's delight, and they sat together closely, drinking it all in minute by minute. She honestly couldn't have dreamed for the night to have gone any better.

Midnight reached them at last. The moon was at it's biggest and brightest phase, so illuminating it seemed like daytime.

"Would you just look at that," Trent gawped in amazement. "I've never seen it so big. Have you, Claire?"

She was unresponsive, so he called her name again.

"Claire?"

When Trent turned to look at her, he noticed that she'd fallen asleep on his shoulder. His heart beat a bit quicker, looking at her like that; her blonde hair spilling down the front and back of his shirt, her sun-kissed cheeks a warm shade of pink, her eyelids fluttering dreamily. Trent exhaled sharply, not wanting to wake her. She usually got to sleep at around nine, so it was much past her bedtime. As gently as he could, he picked her lolling head off of his shoulder, then lifted her thin body into his arms in one swift movement. Claire didn't seem to be disturbed in the lightest bit, nuzzling her head back into the crook of his neck, causing Trent's heart to bang his ribs again.

He walked back down the mountain and up the path to her house in success, surprised at how tiny and light she was (her body was always covered in her work clothes). While he did want to let this moment last longer, he'd reached her house and knew that after he put her to bed, he'd have to head home as well. Reaching out his open hand from underneath Claire's lower back, he turned the brassy handle. It didn't budge. That's when he realized she'd locked the door.

Trent stood, perplexed. A citizen of Mineral Town actually locking a door! Who would have thought? The town was so crime-free, it was a surprise that people didn't leave them hanging open all of the time. Cursing himself for this, he nudged her little blonde head with his chin, not wanting to let her on the floor without waking her first.

"Claire…Claire, your door seems to be locked." He said softly.

She grumbled, moving around in his arms before stepping down onto the grass. "Oh, I did lock the door, didn't I?" Claire mumbled sluggishly. It took Trent a minute to realize it was because she was still inebriated. Clumsily, she stumbled forward, taking a key from the door's overhead ledge. It took her a few tries, but she finally unlocked it, pushing the door forward so harshly it crashed into the wall and rattled the floor. Nervously, he took ahold of her shoulders. The way she was acting now, she could seriously get hurt-

_BONK! _Claire's body jerked for a moment, then tensed as she hit her head on one of the shelves by the door. The doctor panicked, spinning her around to see the damage. There was a medium sized gash on the right side of her forehead, a bit of blood dribbling out from it.

"Owwwwieeeee," Claire groaned. She started giggling drunkenly. "Owie, Trent-y! That rhymed! Owie, Trent-y, owie, Trent-y-"

Alarmed, Trent moved Claire to the couch and ran to grab a bit of ice and a towel, pressing it to her forehead. She started laughing even louder, her body still waving around.

"Trent-y!" Claire laughed, snorting through her nose. "That's so cold, Trent-y!"

"Where's your antibiotic cream?" He tried asking, holding the back of her head to prevent her from falling forward.

"My anti-what-ie?" She stopped giggling, closing her eyes and grabbing onto his arm. "Mmm, Trent-y, your shirt is so soft!" Claire bent down, rubbing her warm cheek against his right peck.

Trent knew that he couldn't really do much with her like this, and when he lifted up the ice and the towel, he saw that it wasn't that bad of a cut anyway. She was still resting her head against his chest.

"Trent-y, why's your heart beating so fast? It's saying 'bumbumbumbumbumbum,' like it's talking to me or something." She lifted her glassy blue eyes to meet his, wide goofy grin spreading on her full pink lips. "Oooh, what's it saying, Doctor? What's it saying, what's it saying?"

"It's saying that you need to go to bed," he chuckled a little, picking her up by the shoulders again and steering her to what he could only guess was her bedroom. Opening the door, he saw her neatly made full-sized bed and her puppy Ringo, sleeping atop the red flannel sheets.

"Nooooo, I don't wanna sleep yet," She whined, trying unsuccessfully to push him back into the living room. "I wanna stay up all night with you, Trent-y! You're so nice, and sweet, and thoughtful, and handsome…" Claire started squealing with laughter as she pushed his shoulders with her hands and her head rammed up against his chest. "Ooooh, you're heart's going even faster!"

He wondered absent-mindedly if that's really what she thought of him. Nice? Sweet? Thoughtful? Handsome? The only compliments he ever seemed to get were "bright" or "intelligent."

"Come on, Claire, it's way too late for you to be awake," he tried, reaching around her body and attempting to lift her up again. Claire let out another squeal.

"Trent-y, stoppit!" She threw her arms around his neck, pressing her lithe body onto him so he couldn't pick her up. He wasn't sure that his heart could beat any faster than it was now. "I don't wanna go to sleep if you're still here!"

"You didn't seem to have that problem up on the mountain," he chuckled again, letting his hands rest for a moment on her back, the velvety smooth texture feeling so nice against his skin. "Why don't we get you changed into your pajamas, so you can go to bed and sleep all night. I will come see you first thing tomorrow morning to make sure you're okay, alright?" Trent was surprised at how gentle his voice sounded. Thinking about it, he'd never dealt with a drunk woman before.

"Ooooh, Trent-y wants to change me aallll by himself, doesn't he?" Claire snorted, starting to stroke his tie.

He blushed a little, trying to locate her wardrobe. It seemed to be a small, wooden chest at the foot of her bed. "T-that's not my intention!" he stammered, opening the chest as she hung around his waist.

"Are you suuuuure, Trent-y? Are you really, really sure? You don't wanna see me in my-" she let out a loud laugh. "-underpanties?"

_Of course I do. But your blood alcohol content is way too high for me to enjoy this, _he thought stubbornly, searching furiously through her clothes. He took a deep breath, feeling his body break out into a sweat. _Okay, maybe I'll enjoy it a little._

Trent found the huge yellow t-shirt he saw her in when he came to her house before and figured it be the easiest to change her into. "Stop clinging to me like that-come around so I can-Claire would you please-"

Claire kept giggling, screaming giddily every time he tried to remove her dress as respectfully as possible. "Say it first, say that you wanna see my underwear! Say 'Trent-y wants so see Claire-y's underwear-y!' Say it!" She was cracking up at the idea of this.

_No way in Hell am I saying that! _But he couldn't help cracking a smile. "Come on Claire, please? Just stand still for a minute?" With a quick thought, he added, "For me?"

A wave of relaxation seemed to rush through her body as she finally stopped wriggling, gazing at him sheepishly. "Okay."

Trent moved forward, taking the bottom of her dress and pulling it up over her head. Once it was off, he did all he could to not look at her body, but he couldn't help it. Her body was so thin, but so curvy at the same time: hipbones jutting forward in front of a round backside, belly flat and indented with a light-colored navel, and breasts that seemed to be struggling as they lay heaping from her plain, black cotton bra. He shook it off, a rush of guilt coursing through his body. "Lift your arms up for me, okay?"

She did so, and he slipped the t-shirt easily over her body, concealing his views of her half-naked. Still embarrassed, he lifted her again and went to lay her down in bed.

"Thank you, Trent," she mumbled softly. He had ignored her at first, pulling her blankets up to her shoulders and fixing the pillow so her head rested comfortably. "Thank you." Trent stopped tucking her sheets under her mattress snugly to look at her. Claire's beautiful blue eyes gazed at him dreamily. She looked so beautiful, all of her blonde, wispy hair splayed all over her pillow, and long eyelashes making lovely shadows on her cheekbones. He had to stop and take it in-which was something he never did. Take in all of the beauty in front of him and let his heart and mind surrender to it fully. She reached out, running her thin fingers along his jawline. "Thank you," she repeated again, but this time, she wrung her arm around his shoulder and brought him down closer to her.

"You're welcome, Claire," Trent whispered. She turned her head a bit, touching her nose against his, then sliding her face the rest of the way so their lips met. He didn't even hesitate in kissing her back, didn't even feel guilty. He was still so mystified by her beauty and by the moment that he took her chin, pressing his head to hers.

Claire let out a soft sound that drove him absolutely crazy; he moved so now he held her face in both his hands and her own hands began gliding down his back. He kissed her more and more, loving the feeling of her lips against his, until she…just stopped.

Stopped?

Trent lifted his head up a bit to see that Claire's eyes were closed. Her mouth was open slightly, her chest falling and rising in a rythimic way. She'd fallen asleep again. Quickly, reality snapped him out of his lovey-eyed haze, making him realize how bad he felt about all of this. He stood up all of the way, her arms slipping off of his body. Quietly, with a wide array of mixed emotions filling his mind, he left her home and let her sleep in peace.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The morning after The Full Moon Festival, Claire woke up with an incredibly intense headache. She groaned, turning over a few times in her little bed. She'd only ever been drunk once before, and she could safely say that _this_ was way worse than her first time.

_What happened last night? _She thought to herself, ringing her arms around her head. A bit of cotton blend fabric rubbed up against her thigh as she moved. _Huh? _Claire opened her eyes wearily, catching sight of her dad's big, old t-shirt. _How did I get in this?_

Slowly, she closed her eyes again and fell back onto her pillow, trying to think of absolutely everything that had happened during her perfect evening with Trent. They had their dinner, went to go sit in front of the table, watched the moon, talked about nonsense, then she remembered waking up…vaguely. She grabbed a key, and then they were inside…something that really, really hurt… and then, there was her arms, and his face, and his nose, and his lips…

"We kissed!" Claire exclaimed breathlessly, jumping up suddenly, then falling back down from the awful throbbing in her temple. "Oh man, we kissed when I was that drunk… how am I supposed to talk to him now?"

Ringo was awake now, wagging his little tail and coming over to lick her face.

"What should I do, Ringo? He probably thinks I'm super trashy or something. Should I confront him? Or pretend that it never happened?"

The dog's eyes blinked cluelessly at her, causing Claire to let out a huff of air. This was all so difficult, and there was definitely no way out of it. However…

Maybe she could just brush it off and they could just keep moving forward! Trent must have known how crazy people get when they drink, so he probably understood her actions and everything, right? Claire clenched her fists. Right. He'd have to believe that… and even if he'd only ever seen her drunk once, he was super respectable. He must have known that the way she acted wasn't serious, so he kissed her back to help her get to sleep. That must have been it.

She lay in bed for a while, thinking a bit too much about everything and causing her head to hurt much more than it did already. It had been a little past half an hour when Ringo started to get antsy, so she sucked up the horrible hangover and moved to go take care of all of her animals and crops.

_"Don't overexert yourself,"_ Claire could just imagine the Doctor lecturing her. _"It's not good to consume that much alcohol in one night, and then work past your limit the next day. My advice would be to take it easy."_

"Right, right," she whined at his nagging voice in her head, walking past her ripened plants. Knowing that it would be too much of a hassle to worry about all of them, she put them off for harvesting the next day.

As Claire went to take care of her cows and sheep in the barn, she couldn't help thinking about Trent. It would seem really stuck-up if she didn't go visit him with his herbs today. There was a big possibility he'd be really understanding about all of it, Claire was still worried he might read everything the wrong way and think she didn't like him. Because… he had to have liked her back to of kissed her… he had to.

She sighed, scratching her cow Micah between the ears and going to clean up. She was going to see him alright. She was going to walk right into his office just like usual, pretending there was absolutely nothing going on. Plus, a big, greasy plate of french fries from Doug's would really help the hangover stomachache.

After Claire had hastily grabbed the herbs from around her house, she marched with her head held high to the office (though, after a while of this, she began to feel nauseous again and returned to a normal-paced walk).

Inside the clinic, Elli was at her desk as usual. Jeff, the grocery store owner, was waiting on one of the chairs, clutching his stomach and face looking sullen.

"Hello, Claire," Elli greeted politely. "Doctor's just taking down some notes right now; I'll let you know when-"

But Claire ignored her, walking up to his office and pulling back the curtain with a force. Sure enough, Trent was at his desk, writing down some notes in his usual professional manner. Her appearance had startled him, as he wasn't used to being interrupted like this. He had jumped up a bit, sliding back in his chair towards the wall, eyes as wide as golf balls and hands held up a bit. Claire closed the curtain behind him, staring at him intensely and not knowing what to say. She'd come all the way over here with the herbs with all of the intention of being normal, and all she could do was be all angry and harsh? Trying to lighten up, she straightened her back and tried to ignore the fact she was sweating profusely.

"Hi, I've got your herbs." The little blonde inched closer to his desk and attempted to be less frightening. Trent still seemed to be terrified. His face was near purple in color; even his ears were blushing. He wasn't looking at her anymore, but his expression was the same.

"J…just leave 'em. Thanks." Using his legs, he moved his way back to his notes and put his head down, scribbling again. Claire stood her ground, feeling uneasy. That was it? He was clearly very embarrassed, so she just decided to leave right then and there.

The chilly air didn't feel that great, and her head was in much more pain than before, so she decided to just walk home and get more rest instead of going for a bite in the noisy Inn. On the way back, she thought about what had just happened. It was weird to see him like that… so embarrassed and everything. He seemed fine when he kissed her back last night, so Claire thought he wouldn't really take it as that big of a deal. But maybe it was a big deal to him? It certainly was to her. Was he embarrassed because he didn't enjoy the kiss? Just thinking of her as a friend or something? Or was it different?

_Is he embarrassed because he likes me?_

Claire stopped in her tracks, her expression resembling Trent's wide-eyed mad-blushing one face back at the clinic. Just thinking about it made her entire body tremble and heart ache. A guy like him with a girl like her? He was so educated; always working and reading and researching. Then, there was Claire; she wasn't really good at much of anything, just trying to take life easy around the farm. How could he like a girl like her?

"Are you okay?" asked Rick, Popuri's brother. Claire turned to see she had stopped right in front the chicken farm. He was raising his eyebrows, pushing his large glasses right up onto his nose. "You don't look so good."

"Yeah, I'm not feeling the best right now. I'm just headed back to get some sleep." Claire started walking again, but Rick called after her.

"Want me to go grab the Doctor? He always helps my mom-"

"Don't!" she screamed, spinning around. The mention of his name had made her hair stand up on end. Rick was rather taken aback, so she sighed and said in a softer voice, "Please don't. I should be fine tomorrow. Just a bit of a headache."

Her "bit of a headache" had turned out to be extremely exhausting, so after she finally got home, as soon as her head hit the pillow she fell into a deep slumber.

A bit of howling woke Claire up the next morning. Apparently, she'd left Ringo outside without realizing it. She sat up and stretched out, feeling so much better than the day before. Glancing at her clock and calendar, it was 6:30 on Wednesday morning-Trent's day off and their tradition of breakfast at Mother's Hill. Her heart still ached thinking about it. There was no doubt in her mind that Trent wasn't going to meet her for breakfast today; they always met at 6:00, so if he really wanted to watch the sunrise to her, he'd come and see why she was half-an-hour late. Shaking it off, she decided to just make some breakfast of her own.

"Come on, Ringo," Claire yawned, sleepily, opening her door. Then she froze.

Trent was in front of her door, fist half-raised as if he was just about to knock. He'd been taken by a bit of surprise again, golf-ball eyes returning for a moment. Behind her ribs her heart made a harshthump, nearly pulsing her forward.

"Where have you been?" Trent asked curiously. "I've been waiting for thirty minutes."

Claire stared at the ground.This guy was totally impossible!"I…I thought maybe you wouldn't want to today."

He tilted his head. "Well, of course I would. Why would I cancel our normal plans without telling you?"

_Because you totally freaked out by the mere sight of me yesterday? _She thought angrily, but instead of saying what was on her mind, she just shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well everything's getting cold. Come on." He took off at a bit of a jog. Claire decided to walk slowly behind him, queasy feeling coming in her stomach (and it wasn't because of a hangover).

The sun had already started to come up by the time they made it to the peak. Trent wasn't as immersed in the beauty as he usually was, eating his omelette with the crown of his head pointed at her, not saying a single word.

_Really? He dragged me all of the way here to not even look at me?_ Claire folded her arms, losing her appetite. "I know what happened that night," she said loudly. He looked up.

"What?"

"At the Full Moon Festival. When I was drunk from all of the wine. I only remember it in little fragments, but I remember you carrying me home, changing me into my pajamas, and I definitely remember the kiss between us." She paused, examining his unreadable face. "Well I'm sorry okay? I'm sorry that I kissed you when I was like that. It was the only time-well, the second time-I've been drunk, and I guess I just do stupid stuff. I didn't have any intention of making you act like this, so can we just forget it happened? I'm sorry!"

Trent's cheeks gained a bit of color, but it wasn't as bad as before. He was calm, or so it seemed, his dark eyes narrow as he responded. "That's alright. You don't need to apologize. It wasn't like you had any control over the matter." He turned his head so he wouldn't have to look at her. "It wasn't so bad, anyway."

Claire wanted to leap up from where she was sitting and run around in glee. It wasn't so bad?! So, that meant he liked it! He definitely liked it, and he definitely liked her!

She brought her knees to her chest, smiling to herself quietly. Trent cleared his throat as if to signal he was ready to change the subject. Claire was rather fine with that-they didn't have to talk about their standpoint (because she knew now that he totally liked their kiss!) but she was still curious about his romantic life. Had he ever been with girls before?

As if reading her mind, the Doctor spoke. "Have you kissed many guys before?" Not knowing how to respond to this, Claire curled her eyebrows and winced. Nervously, Trent looked back at her, waving his hands. "That's not what I meant. I intended to ask if you've had previous romantic affairs?"

_Previous romantic affairs?_ Why did he always have to be so professional? Nevertheless, Claire found herself giggling. It seemed to be part of his charm, his cultivated manner. The way he pieced such casual words together like that was so cute!

"Not really. I had a few crushes back in high school, but they never went far. When I started working in the city, there was this one guy. We dated for a few months, but it wasn't really that serious, and I really didn't feel that attracted to him or anything." She held her breath. _I've never felt for anyone what I feel for you_, she thought.

"What was he like?"

Claire couldn't really remember. She couldn't really even picture his face all that well. "I guess he was pretty plain. He worked with me, or rather, worked above me (I was a cubicle girl and he had his own office). He really liked to do his job, which was nice, but other than that he didn't like much else. We went on a couple dates, but it was always really fancy restaurant so he could show off how much money he had. He never liked to talk about anything besides business either. A bit of a bore, actually." She snorted into her orange juice. "Oh, there was this one time, the only time I had ever gone back to his apartment, and guess what? His mom was there! We were kind of kissing and everything, the most exciting thing that had happened between us, and she was just in his kitchen! I guess she'd come over to clean up for him." Claire burst into a fit of laughter, remembering the look on her ex-boyfriend's face. "Two days after that, I told him I really wasn't looking for a relationship and that was that."

Trent really seemed to be taking this all in. He was hanging on to every last word, gazing off into space. His eyes were flicking in a studious way, like he was taking mental notes on everything.

"What about you? Any girls in medical school?"

She imagined Trent as a little boy with a girl in her twenties strapped around his shoulder.

"There was…one," he mumbled, not really looking too disturbed. "While I was in college. As I said before, I entered university at a much younger age, so everyone in my classes were older than me. I didn't enjoy talking to anyone and I was quite busy with my studies, but there was this girl who lived with her parents across my apartment. She was the same age as me, about eighteen. We saw each other every so often; sometimes she'd come over and watch a movie or we'd eat dinner, but I was studying quite literally all of the time, so she just got annoyed and decided to go pursue others. It wasn't exactly that I minded much, I really only enjoyed her company every so often. But at that moment, I had led myself to believe that being romantic with another person just wasn't for me. I knew I'd be busy a lot, and I would never like to put someone who was affectionate towards me in a state of boredom."

Claire blinked her round eyes at him. "Do you still feel that way?"

He offered a sideways smile. "No, I don't. I've grown."

She bit her lip, thinking all sorts of things now. A sudden desire filled her heart-to just reach out and kiss him, kiss him for a very long time with his strong arms wrapped around her. Her eyelids fluttered a bit, finding it hard to imagine it. Still, Trent had said all of that stuff today as if he liked her…so maybe there was a chance for that. Maybe.

***Author's Note***

Hi, everyone! I really appreciated the nice feedback from you guys, and I'll promise I will keep writing. I've been really busy lately, so I haven't been able to write as much as I did earlier in the summer. But, I've already written a summary of every chapter from this point on, so I know exactly how I want everything to go, and I should be writing them when the time comes. I just, well, haven't written them yet! Please keep waiting patiently, and I promise you won't be disappointed in the rest of the chapters! Thanks so much!

p.s. Things are also about to get more exciting between the two. ;D


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

The winter season had come to Mineral Town in a rush. White snow covered every inch of land; even Claire's mailbox was covered in inches of fluff! It was the first time Claire had ever been in the midst of so much snow and wanted to soak it up as much as she could-making snow angels. building snowmen, creating forts, walking around on the ice, and even just walking in circles to spell words with her footprints. Since she didn't have any crops to take care of her work time had been exclusively reserved for her animals, and all of the other time she spent playing around or visiting the Inn (as usual).

Trent was a lot busier than Claire had ever seen him. Apparently with the winter came all sorts of sicknesses. People were sniffling and coughing wherever she went. It was a bit of a downer, really. She had no people to hang out with, and plus, she could rarely even see Trent (no herbs were around either)!

Doug's Inn was now always bustling with the townspeople. Everyone wanted a warm place to stay and some hot food to eat. On the evenings she went, Claire had to wiggle her body in weird ways just to get past the people.

"Claire!" Doug exclaimed upon seeing her one below zero night. Claire smiled at him, working her way up to the counter while taking off her scarf, earmuffs, and mittens. "How're you feeling? Not sick like everyone else?"

She shook her head, unbuttoning her coat. "Nope! It's actually weird I'm not sick, I spend a lot of time outside."

"Maybe it's because you take such good care of yourself!" he said, winking his red lashes. "Would you like a hot chocolate?"

"Preferably a hot toddy. With a lemon wedge and cinnamon? Oh! And a slice of your chicken pot pie?" Claire's stomach was growling from ice fishing earlier. Doug wrote down her bill and slid it to her (with a much too generous discount) before disappearing into the kitchen.

Doug must've told Ann that Claire was there, because within minutes, the bustling redhead had plopped herself down in a barstool. She didn't look as if she'd recovered fully from the cold, but the playful look in her green eyes remained.

"It totally sucks," Ann whined in a scratchy voice. "I was going to make Cliff some cookies for Winter Thanksgiving tomorrow, but I can't bake when I'm like this!" She wiped her ruddy nose across her sleeve.

"Winter Thanksgiving?" Claire asked. Must've been another one of Mineral Town's holidays.

Ann relayed the dumbfounded look that always reappeared when Claire didn't know something about their festivals. "Really, Claire? It's just like in the spring, when someone gives the person they like cookies, but they usually do it with chocolate now. Cliff doesn't really like the chocolate they sell at the grocery store, so I wanted to make him cookies and-" she shook her head, stopping herself.

"So a guy that likes you will give you chocolate?" Claire began thinking about Trent.

"Yeah! And then in the spring, the girl gives cookies. I like to bake for both occasions, though. You know me! Always trying to get some meat on Cliff's bones-" Ann's words fell short as Doug came back from the kitchen with Claire's meal, as well as some soup for his daughter. She started sipping the hot toddy immediately.

Ann leaned forward, spinning her spoon in a salty chicken broth with a few noodles. "Do you think anyone will give you something this year, Claire? I mean, you were asked to the Full Moon Festival and everything, and Thanksgiving isn't really as big of a deal as that."

She didn't know. Was it necessary? Did Trent even like chocolate or cookies? He was always going on about health this and health that. Plus, Ann was right. It seemed like the Full Moon Festival was certainly more romantic than this little gift-exchange. It probably wouldn't matter much if he didn't give her anything…

"I'm not sure. I mean, Trent's really tied up at work, so who knows if he'd have the time to do that for me." When Claire realized what she had just said, it had been too late. It seemed as if the entire Inn had gone silent now that they'd heard her. Even Doug had stopped wiping glasses to eavesdrop.

Ann's mouth dropped to the floor. "A…are you serious? Y-you've been… it was… THE DOCTOR?"

"Ann, please!" Claire begged, slumping low in her chair.

"AND HE WAS THE ONE THAT ASKED YOU TO THE FULL MOON FESTIVAL, TOO WASN'T HE?! OH MY…" she screamed, fanning her face. Everyone else seemed to think this was quite the news too, a murmur going about them which resembled a thousand buzzing bees.

"Ann! I'm not joking. Be quiet!" This was awful! What if someone told Trent what had happened?

Claire started shoveling the pie into her mouth at a speedy pace with one hand, and with the other she was reaching into her wallet to pay for her food.

"Come on, Claire, this is huge! Huge! The Doctor never opens up to anyone! You hear what everyone says… nobody ever thought he'd be a romantic!"

She couldn't take it anymore, drinking down the rest of her hot toddy and casting an angry warning glance at Ann. "I'll see you later," she growled through a tight mouth. Making her way out of the Inn, everyone pretended as if they hadn't heard a thing.

Now, Claire had two things that kept her up all night: whether or not anyone would tell Trent what had happened, and whether or not if Trent was going to bring her something on Winter Thanksgiving.

"It's for all of the hard work. You know, sometimes, we need to succumb to a bit of unhealthy food. Every once in a while, it's fine."

Claire couldn't believe the sight in front of her. There she was, riding her horse around her farm in the sunny afternoon when Trent had strolled in holding a box of fine chocolates, looking nervous with a blush that was either from the chilly wind or from the embarrassment. She hadn't been able to say anything when he arrived, and she still couldn't speak now that he had tried to explain himself. But she knew exactly why he was here-he totally, definitely, positively, unquestionably, doubtlessly, absolutely LIKED HER!

She couldn't remember being happier… well, besides the Full Moon Festival, but even then she wasn't completely sure of his feelings. Now they were certain! Claire sat on her horse, staring down at him with the chocolate in his hands. She finally managed to bring out her voice, unable to control her ear-to-ear grin. "Would you like to come inside for some tea?"

Trent seemed to have de-tensed a little, returning the smile. "Well, that sounds nice. Sure! I've got the day off."

He walked alongside her as she put Lennon back in his stable, then as they walked into her house. Claire started a fire and put a pot of water on the stove to boil, all while her mouth was curved upwards. She was sure at this rate, she'd never get her beaming mouth to stop, not that she cared. She was now the happiest woman on Earth! No unrequited love, no, not for Claire. She was totally head-over-heels for someone, and he totally felt the same way. Maybe not with the same intensity and maybe not so surely-but he felt something!

Claire poured them some lemongrass tea into her cast-iron cups, passing him the herbal drink and sitting across the table from Trent. He seemed to be avoiding her lingering eyes, staring at his white knuckles and sipping quietly.

"I'm really happy that you're here," she blurted, not able to help it. "Really. I'm so happy."

Trent slowly gazed up into her blue eyes with his dark ones, giving her a shy closed-mouth smile. He blushed a little again, understandably of course. While he didn't say anything, Claire knew that he was happy to be there.

They drank tea in silence (Claire was grinning too much to speak, and Trent was too shy to start a conversation). After they were done, Claire jumped up to clean the cups and then saw Trent out.

"Well… I'll be seeing you," Trent said seriously as he put on his coat. "Take good care of yourself."

"Okay," she beamed. He gave a quick nod and turned to leave, but Claire stepped in front of him and gave him a hug.

It was wonderful. He was quite a bit taller than her, so her arms were wrapped around his upper waist (at her shoulder height) and her head rested warmly against his chest. His heart was beating furiously against her face. At first, he hesitated, not touching her at all in a bit of a shock. Then he slid his strong, long arms around her shoulders and pulled her in close. They stayed like this for a while, Claire feeling free to close her eyes and listen to his heartbeat and Trent squeezing her closer to him on every exhale, but he peeled away after a few perfect moments, said goodbye, and finally left.

Claire's smile was plastered to her face for the next week…quite literally.

_Dear Claire, _

_ I'm sorry that I've been so tied up at the clinic these last few weeks, and it really is a shame that we can't go watch the sunrise due to the chilly weather. Anyway, I was curious if you'd be interesting in having a party for the Starry Night Festival this evening. I usually spend this day with Carter from work since we both don't live with our families, and it would be nice to have him along as well. If you wouldn't mind could we have it at your place since you own the biggest house? Anyway, if this is alright with you, could you run to the clinic at 6:00 and help me bring some of the food over? Hope to hear your reply soon._

_ Trent_

Claire stared down at the letter in her hands, then back up at the Mayor who had delivered it to her in the early hour of 6:00. "What's the Starry Night Festival?"

"Oh, just a tradition we have every year!" the Mayor replied excitedly. "So, what will you be replying?

She was still confused, but it didn't really seem to be that big of a deal. Plus, the Mayor looked so enthusiastic about the whole ordeal as he stood in her open doorway. "Um, yes, I suppose."

"Fantastic!" he clapped his plump hands together excitedly. He began to fold the letter back up.

Tiredly, she rubbed her eyes, hiding behind her door (only wearing her tank-top and shorts and not wanting to give off a bad impression. "It's a long walk back into town. Would you like some tea or coffee?"

He chuckled heartily, as if Claire was the most generous person to ever come to his beautiful town. "Oh, no, that's not necessary. Thank you so much, anyway. Enjoy your night."

For once, Claire didn't have Ann here to explain to her about this certain festival, so she didn't know what to expect. It didn't seem to be one of those extremely romantic rendezvouses that her redhead friend was always going on about, since he was inviting Carter. It was still going to be held at her place, though, so after tending her animals, she spent most of the day cleaning her house.

At six in the afternoon, she arrived at the clinic with one of her baskets, wearing some black pants and a red wool sweater. When she saw Trent, she was immediately disappointed in not dressing nicer. He had on a black suit and his dark hair was slicked back. In fact, he looked so dashing Claire thought for a moment that he was a figment of her imagination. She stood in her clumpy sweater, trying to think of what to say about her appearance.

"Hello! You look well. It's nice to see you since the last time we've spoken," he said, grabbing a blue scarf and tossing it around his neck. "I've been so busy…but that's alright! Holidays are always a bit of fresh air, don't you think?" Trent led her to his room in the upstairs of the Clinic. It was a simple place-all mostly one room containing his bed, a table and a chair, a large bookshelf, a small kitchen, and a love seat that looked as if it had never been used. There was also a closet-like room in the corner which she assumed to be his bathroom. She felt herself go hot imagining Trent taking a shower.

"That's nice you brought your basket. I didn't think of that myself. Here-" he began placing some of the lighter food items in her basket, such as the bread and salad. Then, he took the rest of the food and drinks into a plastic crate and told her they could leave. She went first and he locked up, then they walked back to her place together in the dark night. Looking up as they walked silently, she saw that the stars were in a great abundance, dotting the navy blue sky with a sparkling beauty.

"Did you look at the stars?" Claire asked, turning her head to the young doctor to see he had already been gazing at her. He didn't try to hide this at all, just beamed.

"Stunning, just like always."

Something in the back of her mind told her he wasn't talking about the stars.

When they finally got back to her house, Carter was already waiting outside. He, too, was wearing a black suit, making Claire feel even worse. She welcomed them inside, put on a fire, and helped Trent prepare everything while the priest sat patiently at the table.

"So, Claire, how do you like Mineral Town so far?" he asked politely.

Trent was busy with the food, so Claire went to lay down all of the dishes. "I love it here! It's definitely the best town I've ever been to. I'm so glad that I moved here, too." Upon saying this, her insides felt a little funny. She would have never felt that way if it wasn't for Trent and the way she'd fallen in love with him. She wouldn't even be the same person.

Trent had finally finished with everything, bringing along the bread, salad, and their main dish, prime rib steak with some potatoes and greens. Then, he poured them each a bit of wine (Claire's glass definitely had much less than both his and Carter's) and they started eating.

"I believe the people here are what make Mineral Town a gem. It's such a blessing to have known everyone. They're all so kind and outgoing, not a bad soul around. Don't you agree, Trent?"

The doctor nodded. "Of course. I could never be happier to serve these people." As he reached for a piece of bread, he grazed Claire's stretched hand with his. She could've sworn sparks flew from their bare skin, they just weren't visible to the human eye.

The night went on just fine. They ate the delicious food and drank a bit more than they intended to (but Claire still felt sober). Carter and Trent kept telling Claire funny stories about Mineral Town: like when a sheep had escaped during one of their proud Sheep Festivals and all of the villagers stayed up until two in the morning chasing the fluffy animal, or when a Cooking Festival had gone awry and caused Gourmet to stay at the Clinic for three whole days. It was nice to see Trent behaving like that, laughing and open. She'd only ever seen him act around her that way, and knew that his spoken insecurities of being too awkward around people were all just in his head. Strangely enough, it actually made her really happy when he was like that, too. He wasn't worried about anything, he was just letting his thoughts go along with the food and the wine and the conversation they held. He was so caught up with his worrisome work that he never allowed himself to relax and smile… except, maybe, when he was around her.

"…and then horse just kept going! It had already beat all of the others, but didn't seem to care, just running out of Town's Square all of the way to Mother's Hill. It was quite the scene!" Carter cracked up. They had finished with Trent's banana cream pie, and it was now nearly midnight. The priest seemed to notice this after he and Trent had stopped laughing, wiping his eyes. "Dear me, I'm tired. I think I'll be heading home now. Thank you for the feast, Trent, it was truly delicious as always. And Claire, thank you for letting us use your house for tonight. I hope I'm speaking on behalf of all of us when I say I had fun."

Claire and Trent stood up, seeing him out. Trent offered to walk him home, but Carter told him it was fine and left her ranch silently, smiling a bit more than normal. The two went back to the table, quietly drinking the last of the wine in their glasses. Every time she looked up, Trent was staring her in that way he had before. Claire didn't realize it earlier, but it was almost.. sexy. His eyes were narrow and inviting, lips held loosely. He'd look away nonchalantly as if he wasn't looking at her at all, now a bit slower than usual with the effect of the alcohol. She started feeling sweaty and awkward, wanting nothing more than to just get out of her hot sweater and lay in bed. It wasn't normal for him to be casting flirty glances like this and she didn't quite know what to do with herself.

"Why don't we clean up?" she suggested, grabbing a few plates and stacking them on top of each other. He followed her with the remainder of the dishes.

They still didn't speak, even as they got to washing. She was scrubbing furiously at the plates and silverware, feeling his eyes burning on her as she did so. Every time she handed him the clean dishes to dry, she'd snatch her hand back as quickly as possible. Claire was positive if her skin accidentally rubbed his again, she'd explode. Her heart was going fast enough for that, surely.

"Um, well, would you like me to walk you home… or…?" Claire started to say, avoiding his stare and focusing on his purple-red stained lips.

"No, it's okay," he said sluggishly. She squinted her eyes at him. Maybe he was a little bit more drunk than she'd anticipated. "I can walk home on my own."

Claire glanced around nervously. "W…well… I guess I could return all of the stuff tomorrow, or you could pick them up if you don't want to carry them-"

That's when it happened. When Trent came forward, pushed her back up against the sink, grabbed her face and kissed her. And it wasn't just like any kiss. It was the best kiss Claire had ever had in her entire life, and the best kiss she was sure she'd ever have. Everything on his face was warm: his nose, his cheeks, his forehead, his lips… Oh, wow, his lips. She could only faintly remember their kiss last time, but this was one she'd never forget. Although they had just finished eating steak and salad and drinking wine and eating that banana cream pie, his lips somehow tasted like just like cinnamon. They were so soft up against hers, with just the right amount of wetness. They were so plush, like two, cinnamon-tasting, wet pillows… Claire knew at this moment that all she wanted to do for the rest of her life was stand here like this. Stand here kissing him and never escaping this beautiful moment.

She stood on her toes, leaning into his kiss better and grabbing at the back of his head. Trent moved his hands from her face to her back, gently letting them slide down to her hips. His tongue was prodding her pursed lips, so she opened her mouth a little. Claire felt her entire body start to tingle, inside and out, when his tongue pressed through her lips and softly stroked hers. That's when her knees went weak, but he didn't seem to notice much, holding his body so hard against hers that she managed to stay in the upright position. They kissed for quite a while, Claire's thoughts seeming to come in and out of focus, until she felt him moving away. It didn't even occur to her that Trent had stopped kissing her; her eyes were still closed and arms still around him. Pulling herself out of the miracle that had seemed to have happened, she found him staring dimly at her, face pink and hair ruffled. His mouth was moving, but she couldn't really seem to process his words.

"Huh?" she mumbled, trying to push his head back closer to hers.

"I said, I'm so tired. I've had a lot to drink tonight," he yawned, his body swaying a little on the spot.

Claire couldn't say she wasn't disappointed. This must have been how he felt when they had kissed last time. The only times they had ever been intimate were under the influence of some heavy alcohol intake, and considering they'd been seeing each other for quite a while, it was really sucky. To add on top of this, they had just spent the most amazing, breath-taking moments making-out and now he was saying he was tired? She hung her head a little, removing her arms from his shoulders and folding them across her chest. "That's alright. Have a safe walk home."

He didn't move, besides his body rocking back and forth with his heavy breathing. She looked up again. "What?"

"Can I sleep here?"

Suddenly Claire couldn't care less about the fact that he was drunk anymore. The thought she'd revisited many times since she'd met him of snuggling up with him under the sheets had popped back in her head again, making a smile spread on her face. She didn't say anything, interlacing their fingers and pulling them to her bedroom. He took off his jacket, tie, and shirt, revealing a white undershirt. Then, with what seemed like a bit of difficulty, he removed his pants and crawled in to her bed with his blue boxer-shorts. Claire had shake her head a few times to get herself to look away. She grabbed one of her long nightgowns, dashed in and out of the room to change, then climbed in to bed with him. He already seemed to be asleep, so she took upon the opportunity to look on his gorgeous face.

He looked so peaceful and calm, just like he always did. This time was different, though. There was no moment of thought-processing or concentration flashing through his eyes, no. This time it was nothing except for a lovely dream, not a worry in the world to make his eyes flicker. Reaching out, she let her fingers trace his strong jawline. He was always working so hard, so it was weird to see him sleeping. He'd been extra busy, so maybe he needed these dreams more than he had before…

Claire made a quick promise to herself to try to think of ways to help him relax and take better care of himself, then nestled her head against his trimmed chest and draped her arms around his lower waist, just like she'd always imagined she would if they ever got the chance to lay together like this. It seemed to be a bit of an impulse, but Trent's arms came to hug her closer to his body in a lazy way. She swooned, listening to his heartbeat going slowly, his chest rising and falling, and her love growing and growing more as the seconds passed…

***Author's Note***

Hello, everyone! I'm so sorry how late this chapter is; I'd had most of it written for quite a while now, but I recently moved in to my university so I didn't have the chance to quite finish it. Anyway, here's the latest chapter, and I hope I can write the rest very soon! Love you all!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Five o'clock AM came extremely suddenly for Claire. There hadn't been a single disturbance all night, the two of them remaining in their cuddly positions. Then, with rash timing, Trent blinked his eyes open, recognized his surroundings, then sprung up to the sitting position, making Claire's head fly over to her knees.

Her eyes seemed to be sticking together at first, but when she finally got them open, she saw Trent struggling away from the bedsheets, trying to get to the floor to pull all of his clothes back on. Tired and confused, she looked meekly at the clock, seeing that it was much too early.

"Mmm?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes and yawning. It seemed to startle him that she was awake, spinning around as he buttoned his pants. "What's wrong?"

Although her entire room was dark, she could still see the look of panic in his eyes. This woke her up like a splash of ice-water to her face. "Trent?"

"I shouldn't be here," he said sharply, turning back around and searching through the blackness for his shirt. "All of that last night was out of control. It just went too far and the drinking had pushed it overboard..."

She couldn't believe he was acting like this…especially now. "What are you talking about?"

"…so inappropriate… If I hadn't all of that wine and… so stupid of me…" he rambled on. It was as if he couldn't hear a single word she had said. Claire got up out of bed too, coming to stand next to him, blood boiling with anger and heart cringing with an unfamiliar pain.

"It's okay, Trent, you don't have to worry about it, I promise. I was okay with it," she widened her eyes trying to calm him down. "The sun hasn't even come up yet…your mind is just foggy. Why don't you just lie back down?"

"Because none of this should have happened!" Trent threw his arms down, staring wildly at her. "I was just supposed to come over last night for the party, and then go home. I don't know when or where I lost track of the intake but I did, and it shouldn't have happened!" He went back to searching for his shirt, grabbing is tie and swinging it over his shoulder in the process.

Claire felt so hurt… shouldn't have happened? That was one of the best nights of her life, and he wanted to take it away? "Do you remember all of it?"

"Of course I do," he spat, finally grabbing his button-down from the corner of the room and throwing it on hastily. "Why else would I be acting like this?"

"You remember that kiss we had and how amazing it was? And how much it seemed like you wanted it as much as I did?" Claire couldn't believe herself for saying all of this, but in all honesty she didn't care. It was like her wall of self-defense had been torn down.

Trent stopped for a moment, straightening his back and trying to stare at her the best he could through the lack of light. "Y-you wanted those things with me?"

Embarrassed, she didn't answer. His frown was so deep she could see it clearly. "That's foolish of you, Claire. Absolutely foolish."

She was taken aback. Foolish of her to want those things with him? He was acting so weird! "Why would you even think that? You're an amazing person. I don't know anyone in their right mind who wouldn't want to be with you," she said honestly.

This comment seemed to make him furious. "Do _not_ say that. In fact, you'd better stop altogether thinking these things about me, Claire. You're just going to end up disappointed with the way I really am…" He seemed to be arguing with himself more than with Claire. She swallowed hard, finding it harder and harder to understand him at this point. He ran his hands through his hair frustratedly, changing the subject. "I've never had that much to drink before… if it wasn't for all of the wine, I would have controlled myself… I wouldn't have acted that way with you."

"So what if you had too much… I did too, before, and we kissed that first time and we moved on, right? I was horrified, just like you are, but it was stupid and not even a big deal, you said it yourself!"

"This is different! I would have never done that with you if I hadn't been drinking so much, Claire! Never!" Although her view of him wasn't the best, she was sure he was as red as ever right now.

She sat back down on the bed, the swell of mixed emotions spreading everywhere throughout her body, weighing her down. "Would you _want_ to do that with me if you were sober, though?"

He said nothing, furrowing his brow and starting to button his shirt back up.

"I don't even care, Trent. I had so much fun with you and with Carter last night, seeing you laughing and acting so free to be yourself… and when you kissed me, and when we held each other as we fell asleep… it was everything I had imagined before. Everything I had dreamed of. In fact, I wish we could do it again," Her voice was growing quiet, wavering slightly. "And I know you do, too."

Trent clenched his jaw, turning to open her bedroom door and walking through her living room, clearly irritated. She followed him, desperate for him to hear her out.

"I know you're scared about this, okay? I'm scared too! I've never been with anyone like this before, and I know you haven't either, but it doesn't matter. Think about it for a minute… don't just leave like this! I don't care about last night-I don't care that you were drunk, or that I enjoyed it or anything. If you want, we can just erase that any of it happened and just start over from where we were yesterday morning. I don't mind doing that-don't go!" She had grabbed ahold of his coat sleeve just as he had opened the door to leave. "Please…"

"Claire," Trent groaned, his voice softer now that he saw her distress. "This was all just a big mistake…"

"What was?" She looked back up at him. "The kiss? The party? The whole relationship? What?" While in a way, she was going out on a limb with all of this relationship stuff, she knew that he had feelings for her. He wouldn't have kept pursuing her otherwise…but then… why was he acting like this?

He avoided her eyes, his expression as if he was hurting a great deal too just from looking at her. Harshly, she pushed her hand off of his arm and started to back out again. "I'm sorry. This was all my fault…I allowed it all to go this far when I should have known better."

"What are you even talking about? Trent!" she wailed after him, but he slammed the door in front of her face. Claire stared at her wooden door, in sheer disbelief that this had all happened. Sinking down to the floor, she buried her head in her knees and tried to wrap her head around it all. What was that? She knew he was nervous about all that happened and everything…but this was just plain pathetic! Trent would never leave Claire like that if he had felt about her the way she thought he did. How could she have been so wrong about it all? There was all of the signs that he liked her, or maybe even more than that. But then, there were all of the other signs pointing in the opposite directions because of this.

She pinched herself, trying to see if this was all just some horrible nightmare, but it wasn't. She wanted to tell herself that this was all just misconstrued, that they had both just woken up and were not in the right mindsets, but she couldn't. She could think about everything clearly and so could he. Then, when she tried to tell herself that everything was going to be fine, she couldn't even do that.

Claire got back up to her feet and walked over to her couch. She tried turning on her t.v. to distract her, but all that ended up doing was making her feel worse. She resorted to falling back asleep after a horrible hour of replaying all of the events in her head over and over again.

Claire gave up on the idea of going to see him and talk things over. Trent had obviously done the same, not bothering himself to give her the slightest bit of contact. It was driving her crazy not seeing him. Even the thought of him set her teeth on edge, so she stayed away from the town… it was too risky a chance of running in to someone who would talk to her about him.

The night following that morning, after she was done with taking care of her animals, Claire went to the lake mine with her hammer and hoe, ready to pound away all of her stress with the dirt and rocks. After that day, she went there again, and then the day after that, and so on. It didn't quite take her mind off of it all, but it kept her busy-kept her from trying to talk to him again and looking pathetic.

She could tell on the fourth day of her mining that she wasn't really feeling the best, but she tried to brush it off, assuming it was just a common cold or something. It was then that Ann finally came to see Claire.

The redhead was bundled up in a coat with a blanket slung over her shoulders, obviously not a fan of the snow. Claire was on her way back from her dig and didn't notice her at first at the door, really just wanting to lie down. When she did notice her, however, Claire wanted no conversation at all.

"Where have you been?" Ann pestered. "Been feeling well? Everyone's worried about you."

"It's nothing." Claire mumbled, trying to get to her door.

"It has to be something. You're always coming in to town for a bite to eat… some of us saw the Doctor walking around outside more than normal…he seemed to be really upset-" Claire pushed past her, interrupting Ann as she opened the door and stepped inside.

"I don't care what you saw," the blonde said flatly, knowing very well where this was going. "I'm fine, I've just been too busy to stop by for a meal. So would you just leave me alone?"

Ann held her face skeptically, but was still too taken aback by her friend to just stand there. After watching her leave, Claire slammed the door angrily. Of course they'd all know everything that had happened. If it wasn't for stupid Ann screaming that day at the restaurant, this would still all be a big rumor in town!

Claire sighed heavily. Thinking about him made her feel so incomplete. Knowing that he was so close by too…she couldn't really explain it, but it bothered her more than if she knew he was far away. If he was far away, she wouldn't be that tempted to just take a walk to where he was; that ten minute walk it took to get to his place that seemed to call her down its path, reminding her that those beautiful eyes were just waiting to blink at her beautifully, so near. It was also another painful reminder that he himself could take that same ten minute walk, take that same road, think those same things and just reach out to her and put it all behind them.

None of that was happening, though. Being miles and miles away could at least give Claire the comfort of distance. She could tell herself that he wasn't talking to her because of the miles between them. But that wasn't an issue now. The distance was one of the things that was annoying her the most.

The next day came and she definitely felt worse than before, but it had been nearly a week since she'd spoken to Trent, and the sadness and loneliness was driving her crazy. She didn't even want to take care of her animals, just walking over to the mine at the crack of dawn, digging and pounding her way down to deeper and deeper levels.

She did have a headlamp on, but it was still getting darker and darker with every level she went down. Every now and then, she hit her foot against a rock, kindling her frustration more and more. With every swing of her hammer, she scowled at the repeating thoughts of him in her head. Why couldn't she just let him go already?

_Smash!_

She was obviously so wrong about his feelings for her.

_Slam!_

Maybe he thought they were friends.

_Tink!_

Claire squinted her eyes at a pathetic piece of junk ore, then moved on to the next boulder.

But then why would he always meet her for those sunrises?

_Bang!_

Why would he ask her out for all of those holidays?

_Crash!_

Why would he always smile at her like that? And look at her in that longing way?

_Hit!_

Why would he just leave her like that? Why wouldn't he try to talk to her or contact her or anything? Why-

Claire had fallen over. Her arms and shoulders felt like lead and she lie there, her face skidding across a jagged boulder. Her head was burning and there was blood leaking into her eyes and mouth. It took her a while to realize what had happened, and when she did, her body was useless. She couldn't stand up no matter how hard she tried, so she just lay there, her light now broken and her head clouding out of focus.

She could still hear his voice, too, even as she was fading out of consciousness.

_Are you crazy? You weren't feeling well this morning and you still decided to dig that far into the mine? I thought I told you not to overexert yourself! Have you been eating properly? Drinking enough water?_

Claire wondered for a small moment if he'd ever speak to her again, just before all of the thoughts were swept clean from her mind and her mind had gone dark.

"C-Claire? _Claire_? Wake up, girl…wake _up_! Oh, no. Oh….no!"

Claire could hear a man's voice, but only faintly. It was like she was listening through a door…

"_GRAY_! Help!"

Her eyes fluttered for a moment as Saibara the blacksmith stood over her. He seemed to be holding on to her shoulders, but her eyes closed again and she lost focus.

Everything was coming to her in short segments. She remembered being carried out of the mine because of the strong moonlight, and then she could recall for a moment a ton of panicky voices (she could have sworn she heard Manna and her husband, Duke), frantically screaming something that Claire couldn't quite comprehend, and then there was a moment, just a moment, when she opened her eyes and saw one of the street lamps in town.

When they arrived at the Clinic was when Claire was processing things again. Her body was still unable to move, but her mind was working again…slightly. She could hear everything, but it wasn't like she could make up any thoughts of her own…

"Elli, go get the Doctor!" Saibara's deep voice cried. He was holding her upper body, and Gray was at her legs.

Elli ran over, surprised at the sight. There was a soft _thud_, as she'd fallen in shock.

"What happened?!" Elli screamed.

"We found her deep in the mine… I had no idea she had ever even been there at all! She was laying against a rock and… her eyes have fluttered a few times and her heart beat is going slowly…" He was panting heavily. There was blood all over he, Gray, and Claire. Elli scrambled up to her feet, trying to go to the Doctor's office, but she kept tripping over her feet. Finally she gave up, sitting on her knees, letting out multiple screams for him.

"DOCTOR! HURRY! DOCTOR!"

Trent came from his office, face screwed in confusion. When he saw Claire, his knees nearly buckled. Not knowing how else to respond, he rushed to her and instructed the two other men to help get her on to the medical bed. Then, there was all sorts of strange sounds and voices, just before Claire had waned out again.

When she awoke, she saw Elli peering down at her. Her head was throbbing painfully, and she couldn't really muster what exactly was going on. She moved her eyes around, seeing that the was hooked up to an IV bag as well as another bag containing blood. She was in a hospital gown, too. Moving her head the best she could, she saw that Manna, Duke, Doug, Ann, Gray, and Saibara were standing behind Elli, all looking worried and relieved at the same time. Trent was on the opposite side of the bed, blood all over his lab coat. He had a medical mask on over his mouth and nose, but his eyes were soft, as if to tell her not to worry.

"Trent-!" she called with a weak voice. Claire tried sitting up, wanting to hold on to him, bring him in close, and apologize for everything, but Elli pushed her back down gently. Claire looked back at the nurse to see her eyes were all red-like she'd been crying.

"Just lay back for now, okay? Doctor had to do some stitching where you hit your head-"

"Hit…what...Trent?" She turned to him again, a wave of panic coursing through her veins.

Trent pulled his mask down past his chin with a gloved hand, mouth held in a relaxed way. "Saibara and Gray found you in the lake mine, unconscious, laying against a huge boulder. It seems that it wasn't too long after you had hit your head, because you were bleeding pretty badly at the time they found you, but it still wasn't past help. Anyway, you're going to be fine. I just stitched the side of your head where you made contact with the boulder… it's not too serious. You can't even see it if your hair's down." It looked as if he tried to smile for a moment, but his lips twitched and landed in to a frown. "You lost a lot of blood though, and you have a fever, which is probably what made you faint in the first place." His face hardened like he was going to scold her, but instead he looked up at all of the people in the room. "As Saibara and Gray were carrying you here, Doug, Manna, Ann, and Duke saw you, so that's why they're gathered here."

None of them said anything, Claire guessing that Elli and Trent had instructed them not to break down or shout worries at her.

Looking back at Trent, Claire wanted to cry again. She didn't even care that she'd had that bad of a fever, or that she passed out, or that she hit her head, or anything. She was so happy to see him…

"Trent…" she whispered, reaching for his latex-covered hand. "I'm sorry..."

He gazed down at her sadly, then drew his attention back up to everyone in the room.

"It's getting pretty late. I'd like to thank you all for waiting for Claire after we put the stitches in, and especially for bringing her to the Clinic. Who knows where she'd be if it wasn't for you. Either myself or Elli will call you all tomorrow to update you first thing in the morning, and I hope you can relay the information to the rest of the people in the town. However, I assure you that it's going to be a good report. Right now, Claire just needs some rest."

They all shuffled out, trying to get a last look at her, until they were all gone. Elli closed the curtain after them.

"What time would you like me back here, Doctor?" she asked politely, coming to place a gentle hand on Claire's shoulder.

"As early as possible. And thank you, Elli. You've been more help than I ever could have asked for."

Elli nodded sharply, then looked back at Claire. "You're in good hands, I promise." Then she left, closing the curtain yet again.

Claire and Trent stared at each other in silence, both not really knowing what to say. He finally gave up on trying to look for the words, dragging the flimsy couch that was up against the wall to the side of her bed where there was no IV or medicine. He kicked off his shoes, rolled off his gloves, removed his mirror, tossed his mask aside, threw his bloodied coat on the ground, then sat down, taking her hand as he did so.

There was a lump in her throat constricting her from speaking, so she just lay there, their fingers entwined. His dark eyes were shining at her nervously. "Close your eyes and you'll fall asleep."

"I'm… ha…p-py…that-" Claire tried, throat feeling very dry.

"Don't try to speak. I understand." He squeezed her hand and his face contorted. "Don't ever scare me like that again."

A single tear rolled down her cheek. Trent was quick to wipe it away with the back of his hand.

"I'm sorry for all of this, but I'm so glad you're safe right now… try to fall asleep on that thought okay? You'll be fine…just close your eyes…"

She did as she was told, quickly feeling herself be taken again by the darkness of sleep yet again.

Elli was the first thing Claire saw the next morning. She looked refreshed, certainly not as bad as the night before. Trent was no longer next to her, but she somehow knew that he had been there the entire night.

"Good morning. How do you feel?" the nurse asked as Claire started rustling around.

Claire reached up to rub her temple when she realized she was no longer connected to the IV and no more blood was being transferred to her. "I'm feeling okay. Just a little drowsy."

"Completely understandable. We suspect you'll be feeling weak for the next couple of days. The Doctor will come in and explain everything before you go home." Elli started putting Claire's medicine into a little baggie.

"I'm allowed to go home?" She sat up fully, noticing that she definitely felt much better than the previous few days.

Elli just smiled and nodded, then went to retrieve Trent. When he walked in, it was as if all of the tension between them had just been dropped and they had returned to square one. He looked at her with no special reserve of emotion; with the eyes of a professional doctor and that only. She couldn't say she was too surprised, but it still wasn't what she wished for.

He took her temperature in silence, studying the thermometer the entire time. "It seems you still have a fever. It's lower than yesterday, but it's not low enough for you to return to your regular activities right away. The stitching on the side of your head is healing well," he added after examining it. "We should be able to remove them in about a week. Now, when you go home, you'll need to take this fever reducer for today and tomorrow with all three meals. I want you to rest for three days straight, and I mean completely rest, before coming in to the Clinic again so I can see how you're progressing. So, no farm work, no playing with Ringo or Lennon, and especially no mining. Got it?"

Claire's mouth was hanging open. "What do you mean, no farm work? If I don't take care of my animals they're going to get really sick!"

Trent cracked a smile, going to scribble a few things in his notes. "You won't have to worry about that. The entire town has heard what happened last night, so naturally, they're rather insistent on helping you for the next week. They'll take care of your animals, brush them, feed them, entertain them, as well as give you things to eat. All you need to do is get plenty of time in bed." He called Elli back in and she helped Claire get up and dressed. Trent had his back turned the entire time, still scribbling. "Don't forget your medicine. Oh, and don't worry about the price, we've got it taken care of."

She was all dressed, clutching her medicine and gazing at the back of his head. From taking care of her last night to sleeping at her bedside… there really was nothing else she could think of saying. "Thank you so much," she choked out, her voice wobbling. All Trent did was nod and turn his head a little.

Elli led her to the lobby where Zack was waiting for her. He'd brought his horse for her to ride back on, which he walked alongside until they reached her home. Claire was shocked to see how many people were there.

There was Rick and Popuri, heading to the chicken stables, Ann, who was on her way to the barn with a bag of fodder in one hand and a brush in the other, Stu and May, the towns only two children, working together to put food in Ringo's bowl as well as playing fetch with him, Cliff, who was giving Lennon exercise by riding around the yard, and Doug and Anna, who were working their ways into her house with bags of groceries.

"Look who's looking healthy! You don't mind if we use your kitchen, do you? Of course you don't, you'll be resting!" Doug chortled, helping her into her house with Zack, the two men on either side. "Anna and I are going to make food for you so you don't have to!"

Mary shyly peeked out from Anna's back. "I brought you some books so you don't get too bored, too."

"Just wait until you see all of the letters you got, Claire!" Zack laughed, helping her onto the couch (they put her in the living room for now so she wouldn't get too bored or lonely). Sure enough, there was a stack of parchment from what seemed like every single person in Mineral Town.

Claire's heart warmed and eyes filled with tears. She couldn't believe all of this was happening! All of these kind, loving people that she'd surrounded herself with… there was no place she'd rather be for the rest of her life.

The next there days flew by-with nothing to do except sit in bed and on the couch and eat, she really mostly just slept. Ann and Doug came every day to cook for her, and they'd chat with her for a little, and the Mayor came early every morning to read some letters and books to her, but other than that she was pretty alone. Claire was actually pretty happy to go to the Clinic, hoping Trent would deliver good news about her health so she could finally go back to normal.

She couldn't help but wonder where things were going to go with them too…

Claire got ready, but it wasn't like normal. Everyone was still there, doing everything for her, but after she got out of her warm bath, Popuri and Anna came to help her get dressed in a warm flannel shirt and some jeans and brush her hair with special precaution around her wound. Then, they helped her get fed with a serving of soup before Zack picked her up and walked her to the Clinic.

When Claire entered, Elli jumped up from her desk to give her a light hug. "I'm so happy you're looking so healthy!" she cheered. It was a bit strange for Claire to see Elli acting so kind to her. Not that she was a mean-spirited person or anything, but the nurse always seemed to be a little jealous of the close relationship that Claire and Trent had developed. Still, that didn't really matter. Claire was happy that Elli was over that little obstacle.

"The doctor's been waiting for you all morning. I hope everything goes well," Elli said as she helped Claire out of her coat and escorting her to the examination room. Trent was already in there with his notepad, dressed in all of his regular medical clothing. When Claire came in, he looked up, not exactly smiling or anything but surely happy to see her. He helped her onto the cot and excused Elli.

"So, I'm assuming you've been feeling well?" he asked.

Claire nodded silently. It was so hard to do this with him…this doctor-patient thing. She didn't want to be just another townsperson again. What happened to that night he slept by her side?

"Could you place this under your tongue for me?" Trent asked, holding out a thermometer. While they waited for the result, he scribbled on his paper some of her information and she stared at her reflection in his little mirror, glad she looked rather well-kept thanks to Anna and Popuri. Even though she didn't care much about looking too pretty in front of him or anything, it was still mortifying that he witnessed her all bloodied and battered. "No fever, that's great. It looks like you can finally get back to work…or so it seems. Let's see how everything else is looking and then we can get you home."

"Thank you for this," Claire said softly. For the first time all day, he looked up into her eyes. At last, the Trent she knew returned for a minute. His face broke into a confident grin, a slight blush darkening his face.

"We'll check your heart rate, breathing frequency, and blood pressure. I also want to check your blood, too, just in case." He grabbed his stethoscope and wrung it around his neck. Suddenly, his face turned an even deeper shade of scarlet. "Um…you'll need to remove your blouse for this."

Claire straightened up, widening her large blue eyes. He was going to see her in her underwear…how embarrassing! Cautiously, she started to unbutton her shirt slowly, avoiding his eyes at all costs. When she was done, she crossed her arms over her chest.

Trent seemed to be as immature about this as she was, coming forward with the chest piece with a rather shaky hand. His eyes looked as if he was struggling a great deal to not look at her breasts, but he wasn't doing that so well. The instrument landed over her heart, making Claire wince and lean backwards, giggling.

"That's so cold!" she snorted, covering herself more, now. Trent's frustration grew.

"It's alright, it's only for a second," his dark eyebrows pulled inwards as he leaned over her a little.

Claire kept laughing, trying to push his hands away with such force she was laying flat on her back. It was so good to see him beaming and chuckling with her, acting kind and giddy, light with the happiness of being with her again.

"Can't you just listen to my heartbeat with your ear or something? Get that thing away from me!" Claire scream-giggled, finally taking ahold of his hands so he let go of the stethoscope. Trent was leaning over her fully now, his face right in front of hers. Claire's wide grin was swept off of her mouth and replaced with a sly smirk. The only thing she really wanted to do right now, the same thing she'd wanted to do for days of missing him, was kiss him. She took the back of his head and lowered him the last two inches of space between them. His lips were so soft on hers, undoubtedly kissing her back, holding her chin gently.

The steamy moment went as soon as it came. Trent cut it abruptly short, leaping up off of her body and turning his back to her.

"I'm so sorry… Why would I do that during the exam? Jeez, what is _wrong_ with me?!" He placed a fist against his forehead.

"Trent, it's okay,'' Claire tried, knowing this wasn't going to go where she wanted.

He shook his head, turning slowly. "It's not, Claire. I don't know why, but I just can't control myself when I'm with you! It's all so inappropriate of me to-"

"You don't understand, do you? I don't mind when you kiss me, ever! I don't mind it when you touch me, or when we go out for the sunrise, or when you cook me breakfast, or when we spend the holidays together, or even when I talked to you, just for a little bit. I don't mind it because it always made me feel so wonderful. In fact, I _loved_ when we did any of those things together… it didn't matter what it was, it was just that I got to spend time with you!" Before she knew it, all of the stresses and implications and injuries and painful emotions had taken it's toll on her as she broke down in a fit of tears. She grabbed her shirt, stuffing it up to her face. "I don't understand why you just freaked out that morning… I told you I didn't care about it at all, and you just blew me off like I meant nothing to you. I know it was only a few days, but I hated being away from you like that. It drove me crazy not seeing your smile or hearing your laugh… I guess you didn't care about me that way, you didn't even want to see me-" She was sniffing and blubbering, trying her best to hide her cry-baby tears. She was ashamed of this; she hadn't cried like this since she was a little girl. But it wasn't like she could help it…he was always provoking her emotions!

"That's not true," Trent's voice was so quiet she had to strain her ears to hear him. "I wanted to see you too."

The words sent goosebumps all over her body. Slowly, she lifted her face. He was standing closer to her now, looking as sorry as ever but at the same time surprisingly calm, like he had finally sorted everything out.

"It's going to sound so stupid… but you were right. I was scared…more than that. I was terrified. I've never felt this way about anyone before. With the way I saw my parents and their strained marriage, the way they treated me my whole entire life… I suppose I've always thought I'm not meant for relationships, that I'm only thing I'm meant for is being a doctor. The only other girl that's ever taken the time to be with me got so tired of never seeing me that she finally just left. I was nervous that I'd do that to you… that I'd always be tied up at work that you'd always be alone… I didn't want to do that to you, Claire. You're too good to be with someone who's rarely there for you. So that's why when we kissed or anything I just got worried… I thought it was wrong of me to fall in love with you the way I did because of that, so I tried to push you away, and at the same time I always wanted you to be with me…" He hung his head, letting his words set in the air.

Claire couldn't even process it all. First he was talking about all of these insecurities and then he admitted that he loved her?! All of it just made her cry even harder, hugging her arms around herself. "That _is _stupid, Trent! So stupid! You're not anything like your parents. You're so gentle, romantic, passionate, and caring…I could never get bored with you, never! You're always surprising me…it's always the highlight of my day when I see you. You're nothing like the man you think you are. You're so much more than that. And you know what? Comparing me to some teenage girl that you had a spring-fling with is totally not cool, because I would never just ditch you because you were busy! How old do you think I am! Don't you know that I love you, too?"

This seemed to shock him the most. It took him forever to finally look away from her with the bewildered look of disbelief. The air was so thick it was hard for Claire to breathe. Well, that and she was still blubbering into her flannel.

"Why don't we just finish the exam, okay? This has been a crazy past few weeks, and you're in no health to be worrying about this right now." He put the stethoscope back around his neck and walked back over to her. Claire figured it was pointless to argue with him any more about this, feeling drained and really just needing another nap. All of the thoughts kept going through her head, and she still wanted to talk to him about the subject more, but it was petty to press on the already sensitive issue more than they already had for now.

Once he was done with the health tests, he helped her get her shirt back on and went back to his clipboard. "Everything seems to be normal, but I'd really like it if you lay low for a while and get stronger. You can feed and tend for your animals, but no work with tools and try not to stay outside for too long. Eat a lot, drink a lot of water, and get a lot of sleep, alright? And the stitches have been feeling fine?" He waited for her nod before he spoke again, taking her arms and helping her onto the floor. "We'll get those removed for you next week."

"Okay," Claire said quietly, gripping onto his forearms. Her eyes were still red and puffy so she didn't want to look at him.

"Zack is waiting for you outside," he added tentatively, not quite letting go of her either.

"Okay," she repeated, this time collapsing into his chest and hugging him, tears returning. She wasn't sad this time though, in fact she was just so happy they were talking again. Trent squeezed his arms around her with no hesitation, although he was careful not to squeeze too tight (worried she was still unwell). They would have a talk about all of this when the time came, but for right now she was fine leaving with the sole fact that they weren't on harsh terms any more, that he loved her and she loved him, too. She peeled away, smiling up at him, eyes and nose still running. "I'll see you later."

He smiled, too, wiping her wisps of blonde hair out of her face and wiping her eyes and nose with a handkerchief from his pocket. "Take it easy, alright?"

Claire let go, walking with weak legs to Zack. For the first time in days, she could finally breathe again.

***Author's Note***

Hi everyone! I'm sorry that the chapter is so long; I thought at first that if I split it into two, they'd both be too short of chapters. It turns out that it just ended up being a super-huge chapter! Haha! Anyway I've been working on this for the last few days (I usually finish a chapter in a few hours) because I wasn't too pleased with it at first. I kept going back in and revising… in fact I rewrote the whole part with Trent and Claire waking up in the beginning at least twice, as well as revised Claire's check up at the Clinic so many times! I kind of knew that if I didn't hurry up and get it turned in, I would just keep rewriting it and revising it. I think it turned out pretty much the way I wanted it, though! I think I just have to tell that to myself so I don't go back into it again. Haha.

Anyway, I wanted you guys to know that this fanfic is ready to come to a close. :( It's actually kind of sad because I've really enjoyed writing it. I plan on next chapter being the last, but I'm going to make it rather long because I want to add a lot of stuff in there. However, I've been thinking for a long time of making an additional chapter. I'm not going to say exactly all of my plans for it because they'd be some pretty huge spoilers, but it would involve a long segment of going outside of Mineral Town for a while, and I'm not sure if it would fit too well with the Harvest Moon fan fiction thing, y'know? I really like writing about all of the other characters besides just Claire and Trent, and if I did the chapter I'm thinking about, we'd meet some pretty imaginary characters that have nothing to do with Harvest Moon and stuff, so I'm not sure if that's exactly fair to everyone reading it. We shall see, I guess.

Although I haven't written the next/last/semi-last chapter yet, I have already had the outline ready since the first chapter I ever wrote. There might be a little bit of mature themes with Claire and Trent (not too mature, though! I'll try to constrain myself!) but anyway, if you're not comfortable reading that, then I'm sorry. I could write a PG version and just email it to you, haha! :P On another note, I'm really excited about finally writing it, because besides this one, it's been the chapter that I've been really keen on getting to since I started this whole fanfic. I'll just leave you guys with that thought. c:

I also wanted to thank you all for taking the time to read my work, as well as review, favorite, and follow it! I had no idea that people even read it, so when I heard all of the positive comments it made me really eager to keep going. I can't thank you guys enough for that! I will try to finish this fanfic the best way possible and I hope you guys enjoy the ending. c: When I'm finally done with this story, I'm going to go read the other stories about the website and return the favor of favoriting/reviewing/following them! So again, thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you all!

Oh, before I forget. I recently noticed that the breaks I put inside of the chapters through on my computer don't appear on the fan fiction website, at least they don't appear in the live preview. I hope that this isn't too troubling for you guys, and I will try to go in and fix it if I can. I can understand that it can be really confusing!

Thanks for the hundredth time! I'm sorry this note was so long!

All my love,

Jessi.


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